84-year-old remembered as city’s granddad killed at his convenience store, VA cops say
An 84-year-old shot and killed at his convenience store in Virginia is being remembered as a pillar of the local community.
James Carter was wounded during a dispute in front of his convenience store the evening of Dec. 20, the Norfolk Police Department said in a news release.
He was taken to a hospital, where he died of his injuries, according to police.
Another person showed up at a hospital with non life-threatening injuries from a gunshot wound, which police said was connected to the shooting at the store.
Police have charged three people in connection with Carter’s death.
Dennis Hisle, 42, faces charges of second-degree murder, malicious wounding and two counts of use of a firearm, police said. A 40-year-old man was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of ammunition by a felon, and a 41-year-old woman was charged with accessory after the fact.
Attorney information for the three defendants is not listed in court records.
The community expressed an outpouring of grief, with one Facebook user calling Carter the “god-father of half the entire Norfolk.”
Carter’s son, Dwayne Carter, told WTKR that he and others in the community had a “sleepless night” after what happened at the Triple C convenience store.
“He touched a lot a folks. He fed a lot of folks. He raised a lot of folks,” Carter said.
After the shooting, people left balloons and flowers outside the convenience store to honor Carter’s life.
In a tribute from police, Carter was remembered as a “community mentor, father figure and bright beacon of Lindenwood.”
One officer said he had never received a call to the Triple C store in 13 years, recognizing “the respect shown to a place where everyone was welcomed and no one left without what they needed.”
“He was a good man and took care (of) generations of people… True legend of Norfolk aka Grand Dad of Norfolk,” one person wrote on Facebook. “I don’t understand how you can do that to a man like him that only wanted to help people.”
Norfolk is in southeast Virginia, about 20 miles west of Virginia Beach.