Pharrell Williams called on the state of Virginia to investigate the death of his cousin, who died during a police shooting on Virginia Beach.
Williams made the request in an Instagram message Monday after attending his cousin’s funeral in Virginia Beach, where Williams grew up.
“I had to speak at my cousin’s funeral and was suffocated by emotions,” he wrote in the post. “Too many unanswered city and state questions. I respectfully ask for a federal investigation. I also humbly ask that you keep the family in prayer.”
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Pharrell Williams calls for an investigation into the death of his cousin in Virginia Beach.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
Donovon Lynch, 25, was killed in the early hours of March 27 along the city’s popular strip of hotels and restaurants shortly after two other nearby shootings sparked chaos. Police said Lynch, a black man, had a gun and that it had been recovered from the scene. However, the officer’s body camera was not activated. The officer who killed Lynch is also Black.
The city’s police department recently handed over the investigation into Lynch’s death to Virginia State Police.
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Lynch lived in Virginia Beach. He was an abusive linebacker for the University of Virginia’s College in Wise during the 2017 and 2018 seasons and a graduate of the school in 2019.
The same night that Lynch died, Deshayla Harris, 29, of the Norfolk Bad Girls Club star died in a separate shooting incident that took place very close by. A third shooting also took place in the same area the same evening, and many residents left questions about their safety in the area as the hot weather and the relief of coronavirus restrictions brought more people along.
Eight other people were injured during the gunfire of the evening, according to a report by the local WAVY.
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Police also arrested three men. They were identified as Ahmon Jahree Adams, 22, of Chesapeake; Nyquez Tyyon Baker, 18, of Virginia Beach; and Devon Maurice Dorsey Jr., 20, of Virginia Beach, according to WAVY.
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All three men are connected to the first shooting of the evening, which caused no deaths, the station reported. They were each charged with seven counts of criminal assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime and reckless handling of a firearm, the report said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.