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Norfolk Police Kill Suspect in Series of Four Robberies

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 January 2006, 09:00 CST

By Matthew Roy, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Jan. 10--NORFOLK -- A man suspected in a string of overnight robberies was shot to death in a confrontation with police early Monday.

An officer responding to a robbery call encountered the man and opened fire when the man reached into his waist area "with a furtive movement," said Officer Chris Amos, a police spokesman.

The officer believed the man was reaching for a weapon, Amos said. No weapon was discovered, he said.

Police identified the man as Anthony Grier, 40, of 700 Guy Ave., which is just blocks from where the robberies occurred. At 4:30 a.m., police responded to a call of a robbery in progress at the 7-Eleven in the 800 block of E. Little Creek Road. Police had been alerted early Monday that a robber was striking repeatedly in the neighborhood around Tidewater Drive and East Little Creek Road .

A 7-Eleven on Tidewater Drive was hit after midnight. Then Johnny's Diner, a 24-hour restaurant nearby, was hit. Then the Tidewater Drive 7-Eleven was robbed again, Amos said.

In the first three cases, the robber implied he was armed, and in the fourth, at the East Little Creek Road 7-Eleven, the robber lifted his shirt and the clerk saw what she thought was a gun, Amos said.

Two officers were on Gregory Drive approaching that store in one car with its lights off, Amos said. They encountered Grier, who matched the description of the robber, walking in a parking lot by a building that used to be an auto body shop in the 7500 block of Tidewater Drive. That's when they turned lights on him. He refused to comply with their orders and reached into his waistband, Amos said. At that point, one of the officers fired.

Grier was later pronounced dead at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Police believe he was responsible for all four robberies, Amos said. They found an undisclosed amount of cash on him.

The officers have been placed on administrative leave pending investigations into the shooting, Amos said. That is standard procedure. The incident is the third since Thanksgiving in which city police have used deadly force.

On Nov. 24, Derrick Bryant, 33, of Portsmouth was shot to death after he abducted a former girlfriend at knifepoint, authorities said. Officers ordered him over and over again to drop a knife he held at the woman's throat, but he did not. He pulled her onto a lawn and they struggled; as they fell apart, an officer fired at Bryant.

That's according to a letter written by Commonwealth's Attorney John R. Doyle III, based on evidence from police investigators. He cleared the officer, writing that the officer feared for the woman's safety and did not know Bryant had already dropped the knife during the struggle. Bryant's family has questioned whether police had to use deadly force.

On Dec. 24, police approached a suspicious vehicle, which sped off. During a chase, an assault rifle was thrown from the vehicle. After the car crashed into a building, officers approached it and shots were fired from inside the vehicle. They returned fire, shooting to death Juan Theodore Mitchell, 27.

Reach Matthew Roy at (757) 446-2540 or matthew.roy@pilotonline.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

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Source: The Virginian-Pilot

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