PETERSBURG, Va. – Police Chief Travis Christian is crediting community cooperation for the swift arrest in a murder investigation as the chief admits Petersburg is in the midst of an uptick in violent crime.
In fact, eight of the city's eleven homicides so far this year have happened in the last month and a half, data reveals.
"It's a tough situation for our community because we are fighting trying to eradicate the gun violence that's occurring in our city and we've seen an uptick in the city right now," Travis Christian, Petersburg’s police chief, said.
The original 911 call Tuesday night was for a car wreck in the 500 block of Halifax Street. But police quickly realized they were working a homicide investigation when they found the driver was suffering from a gunshot wound in the car.
Officers said 48-year-old Kirk Nims of Petersburg was pronounced dead at the scene.
"What we are finding is there's no set location to where these crimes are occurring. It’s not the normal activity we see where street-corner drugs and individuals are doing drive-bys and shootings," Christian said. "We are having domestics and situations such as this where an individual is riding in a car.”
While the chief could not confirm that Nims was working in an Uber driver capacity, multiple Crime Insider sources said that is the information detectives are working with. That is also one reason, in addition to community involvement, why the suspect, 19-year old Imarion Jones, was quickly captured after the shooting. He was charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of felony, police said.
"Our community is coming forward, giving us information and we want that relationship to continue,” Christian said.
As a result, Christian urged citizens to keep the information flowing.
Anyone with information that could help detectives is asked to call Petersburg Police at 804-732-4222 or Petersburg/Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212 or text the keyword pdcash followed by the tip and send to 274637.
Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.com for in-depth coverage of this important local story. Anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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