CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - An off-duty Norfolk police officer recently charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a Chesapeake man earlier this year escalated a confrontation that preceded the shooting, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
The Virginian-Pilot reported Edmund Hoyt was in court Tuesday for a bond hearing after being charged last week in the Jan. 19 shooting death of Kelvin White, 42.
Prosecutor D.J. Hansen said Hoyt responded to a Chesapeake neighborhood where his wife said she’d been confronted by a man later identified as White, the newspaper reported.
When Hoyt arrived, he identified himself as an officer, pulled out a gun and told White to get on the ground, according to the prosecutor, who said that White was not menacing when Hoyt pulled his gun.
When White refused, Hoyt re-holstered his gun and went “hands on,” wrestling him, Hansen said. Hoyt later fired six shots, three of which struck White, according to Hansen.
White’s family has told The Pilot that White was schizophrenic.
Hoyt’s attorney argued for bond, saying his client was not a flight risk.
The judge set bond at $25,000, but prosecutors appealed. Online records show a hearing is set in circuit court Wednesday morning.
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