Police Charge Teen in Fatal Norview High School Shooting

A fatal shooting outside Norview High School in Norfolk, Virginia, has left a 16-year-old student dead and two other teenagers injured, prompting police to arrest a 17-year-old boy on Friday, October 9, 2026. The suspect faces five charges stemming from the October 7 incident, which investigators linked to a confrontation among teenagers during school dismissal.

According to the Norfolk Police Department, the suspect was taken into custody Friday and is being held at the Norfolk Detention Center. Authorities charged him with manslaughter, possession of a firearm by a juvenile, two counts of malicious wounding, and discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school. Police have not released his identity because of his age.

The shooting occurred in the 6800 block of Sewells Point Road, near the school. Officers responded at approximately 2:25 p.m. Wednesday and found two teenagers with gunshot wounds.

The 16-year-old, identified as Kevon Drumgold, died at a hospital, while a wounded 17-year-old was expected to recover. A 14-year-old boy also sustained a graze wound that did not require medical treatment, police said.

Investigators said the violence followed a confrontation between groups of current and former Norview High School students in a parking lot. Surveillance footage from a used car dealership across the street showed Kevon's friends carrying him toward Sewells Point Road, where they flagged down a police vehicle, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

Kevon's mother, Brittany Drumgold, said her son had received threats and insults from students he knew before the shooting. She described him as a teenager who was trying to move beyond earlier conflicts and focus on his future, including returning to football and improving his grades during his sophomore year.

In remarks to her son's friends the evening after his death, Brittany Drumgold urged them to make different choices.

"It's time to change," she told them as they cried. "You got to finish what he started."

She said Kevon was devoted to his family, including his two infant daughters, and hoped to change his life for their sake. His family had lived in a Norview apartment for six years after moving to the area, where Kevon grew up alongside his younger siblings.

Brittany Drumgold said her son had also asked to leave Norfolk and start over somewhere people would not judge him based on his past. She recalled an incident about a month earlier when he insisted on stopping the car to help a man lying on a road median because other drivers were passing without stopping.

She described the devastating loss of a teenager she expected to return home after school.

"Every kid going to school is supposed to come home safe," Brittany Drumgold said.

Kevon's grandmother, Crystal McGlome, who lives in Richmond, remembered him as respectful toward adults and someone who routinely stopped to greet them. She said he had been known to teachers at Norview Middle School as a difficult student, a reputation his mother believed followed him as he grew older.

Community activist Michael Muhammad said Brittany Drumgold had previously warned school resource officers about continuing tensions involving her son's friends and another group. Muhammad criticized what he described as a failure by adults and school administrators to intervene before the conflict escalated.

"This back and forth bullying and conflict got out of hand as a result of lack of intervention by adults and the school administration," Muhammad said. "Now we're blaming 16-year-olds."

Norfolk Public Schools did not respond to questions about whether the suspect's firearm was brought onto school grounds or whether campus security responded to the shooting, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

School staff and city officials took steps to support students following the killing. Counselors were available throughout Thursday, and teachers paused regular instruction to allow students time to process the loss. Police officers were also stationed near school entrances as students left campus.

Norview's Community First violence intervention team has worked to prevent fights from escalating around school dismissal for nearly two years. Team leader Benjamin Tavers III said the group focuses on supporting students and reducing confrontations, while Norview Middle School principal Melissa McFarland-Bryant reported a substantial decline in fights and altercations after the team began working with students.

Tavers said he had recently given Kevon and his girlfriend leftover doughnuts from a community coffee-with-a-cop event. He remembered the teenager as friendly and responsive to the team's efforts, adding that he had noticed Kevon was absent for a period and believed he was making progress.