Police responded to the 6100 block of Old Townpoint Road following a report of a shooting at about 2 p.m. Officers found a man with a gunshot wound in his chest.

The victim later died at a hospital. The investigation is ongoing.

No further information was made available as of Monday evening.

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com

A school resource officer at Tabb High School learned the student had on Sunday posted on social media a threat to “shoot up the school,” according to a news release. The officer told school administrators about the threat and the student was interviewed.

The student is charged with one felony count of making threats of bodily injury to persons on school property.

Investigators with the York County Sheriff’s Office determined she did not have the means to carry out the threat.

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com

Autumn Cleveland would quietly set the mug on her mother’s nightstand so she could start her day with a hot cup of coffee.

“When she picked you, when she loved you, family or otherwise, there wasn’t any other love like hers,” Renee Cleveland said in a phone interview. “Her love languages were different than most. She showed you in tiny ways.”

The 23-year-old from Newport News had packed up her car late Aug. 29 to move to Maine, a state she had fallen in love with, her mom said.

She stayed in touch with her family through the evening of Aug. 31 and texted her parents that she loved them, said father Michael Cleveland. But after a few days went by and her family couldn’t reach her, they posted on social media that she was missing and asked a search team to help find her.

“Every ounce of us thought we were going to come up here … and see her, spoil her and make sure that she was good to go,” Renee Cleveland said. “My heart hurts.”

Her body was found Monday afternoon in her parked car in Dayton. Maine State Police continue to investigate her death and are awaiting autopsy results.

Her parents said Autumn was shy, soft-spoken and anxious, but had a few close friendships. She was very selective about who she let into her life, her mom said.

She loved Taylor Swift, cats and every type of sweet treat, especially chocolate. Her sister, Brooke Cleveland, said they always stopped at the closest ice cream shop after going hiking. Autumn never tried a flavor she didn’t like, her sister said.

“If she ever shared any of (her sweets) with you, you knew you that you were in her good graces,” Brooke said.

When she was comfortable, Autumn could be the loudest person in the room. Even her own laugh could catch her off guard, her mother said.

“When she would bust out laughing, or she knew that she was going to do something … funny, she would turn really red,” Renee Cleveland said.

She excelled in school and made the Dean’s List at Liberty University, which she attended for a year before deciding she wanted to travel.

She was born in Oregon, but spent much of a her childhood in Virginia. Her family moved a lot, and she became used to traveling when her parents split. She “had a bedroom everywhere,” whether it was with her parents, her sister’s couch in Virginia, with her brothers in Washington or her aunt’s spare bedroom in Oregon, which was always reserved for her.

She was especially close with Brooke and younger brother Christopher, her father said.

“My sister is very selfless,” Brooke said. “It wouldn’t matter if she was having the worst day ever, if somebody else was having a slightly bad day she would make sure to be there for them.”

After stuffing her bags with gifts for her relatives, she decided to move to Tampa last September. Autumn Cleveland always was prepared with research and itineraries, her mother said. And by the time she got there, she had a job and a room rented, her father said.

When she decided to move on a few months later, she joined her dad on a cross-country road trip and then headed to Virginia, where she stayed until she packed up to move to Maine.

Autumn Cleveland wanted to see the world before establishing her roots, her mother said. She wished for a future and a family, to someday be married and have children. She made plans to visit her family in the coming months to go wedding dress shopping for her sister, for holidays and her birthday Nov. 14.

“Anybody that met her fell in love with her,” Michael Cleveland said. “I know dads say that about all of their daughters, but it truly is true.”

Police responded to the store in the 100 block, near the intersection of Mercury Boulevard and LaSalle Avenue, following a report of a burglary at about 6:34 a.m. The subsequent police presence caused traffic delays into the early afternoon.

Hampton police said in a post on X at 4:12 p.m. that a suspect had been taken into custody with no injuries. A later update stated that the suspect was a 34-year-old man but did not name him.

The man allegedly forced his way into the building, took “various items” and tried to leave but stayed inside to avoid police, according to a news release. The law enforcement response included Hampton’s SWAT team along with support from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI.

Just after 8:15 a.m., officials closed the east and westbound lanes of West Mercury Boulevard between North Kings Street and LaSalle Avenue. At about 2 p.m., police said the eastbound lanes of West Mercury Boulevard had been reopened.

Hampton City Schools told parents the situation was going to cause “delays for both student drop-offs and school pickups division-wide.”

“We appreciate your patience as we work to transport students home safely,” the Friday morning release said. “Parents and guardians of students with bus stops near the barricade will receive further updates if we are unable to transport those students home.”

In a post referencing “inaccurate information being posted on social media,” police said there have been no injuries or shots fired.

They posted on social media, hosted community events and held a rally for the 28-year-old mother and pediatric nurse. Within days of her disappearance, community members began to apply public pressure on her husband, Naresh Bhatt.

“My friend called me and said, ‘What do you think?’ and I said, ‘Let’s talk about it,’ so we initiated a group chat and then the movement was started,” said Bina Khadkalama, a member of the local Nepali community in Northern Virginia.

Bhatt was arrested about three weeks after his wife disappeared and charged with concealing a dead body. A prosecutor later said in court that the amount of blood found in Bhatt’s home indicated injuries that were not survivable.

Though his wife’s body remains missing, Naresh Bhatt waived his right to grand jury proceedings on Thursday, paving the way for him to head to trial by early 2025. The trial date is expected to be set during Bhatt’s next hearing in Prince William Circuit Court on Sept. 16.

Prince William Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Sweet described the waiver as a tactical move by Bhatt’s attorneys that limits prosecutors’ time to build their murder case — a process that typically takes longer than six months.

“We have multiple agencies, multiple witnesses who are out of the state — out of the country — that we have to prepare for,” Sweet said in court.

Chief Public Defender Tracey Lenox argued that Bhatt was still entitled to a speedy trial, despite prosecutors’ wish for more time, adding that his defense couldn’t control whether the arrest was premature.

“They chose to charge in this,” Lenox said, adding: “I understand the inconvenience to the Commonwealth, but this is where we are.”

On Thursday, Manassas Park police said they were searching for evidence in the investigation at a nearby school, multiple parks and other community areas.

The investigation has drawn international attention to the small Northern Virginia community, where homicide cases are rare. In the courtroom, more than a dozen community members sat among the benches, wearing pink pins printed with Bhatt’s face.

“We’re always thinking about her, we’re doing so much here,” Khadkalama said. “The case is a 24-hour topic for us … I go to work, I drive home, I think about Mamta.”

Holly Wirth, a nurse who used to work with Mamta Bhatt, has been vocal in the case, hoping to gain accountability for her friend. She described Naresh Bhatt’s waiver of grand jury proceedings to be “legal gymnastics,” but said she believed prosecutors would still have ample time to prepare this case or other charges that they could be pursuing.

“Mr. Bhatt thinks he is smart, but I guarantee you, the weight of justice is leaning hard on him, and we are going to see this come to fruition,” Wirth said.

___

Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

When the 66-year-old didn’t answer their knocks on his door Sunday, they entered through an unlocked door. Upstairs, one neighbor found Seitz bound and dead on the floor and called police, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

A cause of death wasn’t indicated in the court records and a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office didn’t respond Thursday to a request for information.

While working Sunday to clear Seitz’s townhouse on Roebling Lane, officers found a barricaded door, the complaint said. Once in, they found Seitz’s son, Seth. The 25-year-old had abrasions on his hands and legs, and one hand was sprained and swollen.

On Monday, Seth Seitz was charged with second-degree murder. He’s being held without bond in the city jail. Annette Miller, one of two public defenders appointed to represent him, declined to comment on the case Thursday.

Court records show Seth Seitz has been charged with attacking his father and mother on multiple occasions over the past seven years. He’s also been charged repeatedly with violating protective orders preventing him from having any contact with them, and has been ordered to undergo multiple psychiatric examinations to determine if he was competent to stand trial. In order to be competent for trial, a defendant must be able to understand the charges they face and help with their defense.

The first time police responded to Scott Seitz’s house for an alleged assault by his son was in July 2017, records indicate. The complaint in that case said Scott Seitz had thrown away some “baggies” while cleaning his son’s room. When Seth Seitz found out, he became angry, punched his father in the arm, then fled with his father’s cellphone, the document said.

The next incident occurred in June 2022 and involved Seth Seitz’s mother. In that case, police reported Seth Seitz had grabbed his mother, shaken her, then picked her up and threw her into a banister when she refused to go buy cigarettes for him. The mother obtained a protective order preventing him from having any contact with her afterward.

Man charged with 2nd-degree murder in death of his father, Virginia Beach police say

Two months later, Seitz’s mother reported that he’d punched and slapped her in the head multiple times, then prevented her from leaving the house or calling police. In addition to the alleged assault, Seitz was charge with violating a protective order and was ordered jailed.

While incarcerated, he called his mother multiple times to ask her to buy food, clothes, toiletries and cigarettes for him, which she refused, the documents said. He also asked if she knew how serious the charges against him were, and whether he was “going to prison for the rest of his life for doing nothing,” the complaint said.

He was again charged with violating a protective order by contacting her, the records show.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com 

The tractor-trailer was traveling west at about 9:36 a.m. when the raised bed collided with the sign for Exit 200. Virginia State Police said the collision caused the bed to separate from the cab and get stuck, propped up in the air at nearly a 90-degree angle, based on pictures of the incident.

The driver, 62-year-old Richard D. Houston of Lorton, wasn’t injured in the wreck. Houston is charged with reckless driving.

Emergency crews were able to remove the truck bed from leaning against the sign by about 11 a.m.

A state police spokesperson declined to comment on how this happened, saying the crash is under investigation.

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com

Maine State Police said Wednesday that someone called 911 on Sept. 2 regarding a dead woman in a car on Goodwins Mills Road in Dayton, Maine.

The description of the woman in the vehicle matched that of 23-year-old Autumn Cleveland, of Newport News, who had been reported missing on Aug. 31.

The Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit South has begun an investigation, and state police said there is “no danger to the public” at this time. At this time, officials say Cleveland’s cause of death is under investigation.

Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com

Emergency personnel were called to the 300 block of E. Ocean View Avenue near the intersection with Wells Parkway following a report of a crash involving a pedestrian at about 7:50 p.m. They found a woman with life-threatening injuries who later died at the hospital.

The driver remained at the scene. The woman’s name has not been released.

No further information has been made available as of Wednesday afternoon. The investigation is ongoing.

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com

Swimming and wading is now prohibited in the following Norfolk areas:

• 5th Bay
• North Community Beach
• Ocean View Park
• 10th View and 13th View.

In Virginia Beach, swimming and wading are prohibited in the following areas:

• Sandbridge Beach from Perch Lane to Bass Street
• Croatan Beach Park to Aqua Lane
• At the Oceanfront from 8th Street to 22nd Street
• From Kendall Street to Rockbridge Road
• From Mortons Road to the end of Ocean View Avenue.

Signs will be posted in the affected areas.

The Virginia Department of Health measures public waters regularly for enterococci bacteria during the warmer months. Enterococci bacteria are a group of organisms used to measure fecal contamination in recreational waters. While they do not cause illness, the health department reports that their presence is “closely correlated to the presence of other disease-causing organisms.”

People swimming or playing in waters with higher bacteria levels have an increased risk of developing gastrointestinal illness.

Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com