Two young boys were rushed to the hospital Sunday afternoon after a shooting on Portsmouth's 2500 block of Bird Lane, near Victory Boulevard, leaving investigators searching for answers in a case that remains wide open. Police say the gunfire erupted at 4:49 p.m., and both minors suffered non-life-threatening wounds.
According to 13News Now, the two victims were both male and were transported to a hospital following the shooting. Portsmouth police have said the investigation remains active, but they have not released any further information, including details about a possible suspect or what led to the gunfire.
No Suspect Details Released
As of now, there is no word from police on who may have fired the shots or why. The lack of information leaves residents near Bird Lane and Victory Boulevard without a clear picture of what happened in their neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon, and it remains unclear whether anyone has been identified or taken into custody.
This is not the first time the Victory Boulevard corridor has made headlines for gun violence. In a separate incident reported by WAVY, police found one man dead and two other people injured following an overnight shooting near the 3500 block of Victory Boulevard, with the shooting itself reported in a parking lot along Rapidan Street behind a business. Those two surviving victims were also taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, and police said at the time there was no suspect information available as the investigation continued.
A Pattern of Shootings Involving Children
Sunday's shooting also follows a troubling case from this past summer. In late July, a 4-year-old boy accidentally shot himself with an unsecured handgun in Portsmouth, and police arrested the gun's owner in connection with the incident, the station notes. A separate report from the Pilot Online said the child was taken to Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters for treatment and survived his injuries.
City officials have pointed to broader crime data as evidence of progress even as individual shootings continue to make news. Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins said last year that crime in the city fell by more than 17% in the second quarter of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, according to the Daily Press. Jenkins also said robberies dropped by 50% over that same April-to-June window.
Even so, the chief acknowledged that shootings themselves had not fallen at the same pace. Jenkins said about 39 people had been shot in Portsmouth year to date at that point, compared with 37 during the same period in 2024 — a reminder that even as overall crime statistics trend downward, gun violence remains a persistent concern in the city.
For now, Sunday's shooting on Bird Lane adds another unresolved case to that tally. Police have not said whether the incident is connected to any other recent violence in the area, and the investigation remains active with no further details released publicly.
