Within a couple hours after a woman’s body was found at a Newport News gas station Saturday afternoon, police found the suspect’s car parked in front of the apartment where he lived.
Officers converged, but the suspect wasn’t there. He was in another apartment in the complex, and he snuck up on a police car parked nearby and opened fire. Both people inside — an officer and a civilian who taking part in a police ride-along — were wounded.
“This was an ambush-style shooting,” Police Chief Steve Drew said Monday at a news conference. “By the grace of God, both of those are still with us today.”
The suspect, 34-year-old Jerome Michael Uzzle, died Sunday. He was shot by another police officer who confronted him after the ambush.
Dispatchers received a phone call Saturday around 3:30 p.m. saying shots had been fired at the Circle K gas station on Ottis Street in Kiln Creek. Officers arriving at the scene found the body of 34-year-old Chondra Eason inside a car parked in a group of bushes by the car wash. She had been shot multiple times.
Uzzle, her husband, was identified as a suspect quickly, according to Drew. He said that a combination of good video surveillance footage from the gas station and witnesses who stayed at the scene helped investigators quickly determine a physical description of the shooter and the license plate of the shooter’s car.
The car was found in the Cottage Grove Apartments, off of Jefferson Avenue and south of Briarfield Road in the southeastern part of the city — about a 20-minute drive from the scene of the first shooting.
Homicide detectives and some of command staff stayed behind while officers went to the area in Cottage Grove.
Around 5:30 p.m., after officers had established a perimeter, officer Robert Stewart was sitting in his vehicle a couple blocks away. Stewart, who’s been with the department about 18 months, had a civilian ride along in the car with him.
Police only identified her as Macy. Drew described her as “interested in law enforcement” and eager to participate in the ride-along.
The department allows adult citizens and police department applicants to follow an officer for whole or part of a shift. They don’t participate in law enforcement activity and are supposed to be observers.
Drew said Uzzle approached Stewart’s vehicle from behind, taking a position on the driver’s side, and in an “ambush-style shooting” fired multiple rounds inside.
Macy and Stewart were struck. Stewart returned fire as other officers came to their aid, according to Drew.
Officer Branden Kidder, a two-year veteran of the department, was one of the first to reach Uzzle. Kidder drew his weapon and gave Uzzle commands before firing, Drew said.
Uzzle was shot and fell to the ground. Drew said he got up and made it a few more feet before he was taken into custody by other officers.
“They are both heroes, and I think their actions save lives,” Drew said of Kidder and Stewart. “I cannot be more proud of the officers that responded to the scene.”
Officers went to give Uzzle first aid, and Drew said several citizens helped Stewart and Macy. All three were taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center.
Uzzle died at the hospital at 12:29 a.m. on Sunday. Stewart was waiting on his first surgery at the time Drew was giving the news conference on Monday morning, and Macy was waiting on her second — police said both were in stable condition and are expected to recover.
Police aren’t looking for any other suspects. Drew said they believe the initial homicide stemmed from a domestic situation.
“All that will come out,” Drew said. “There’s a lot of interviews to go.”
He estimated that roughly a third of the homicides the department has investigated this year were domestic-related.
The shell casings from the Circle K were consistent with the caliber of those found at Cottage Grove, according to Drew. Officers found a firearm in the apartment complex, which Drew said will be examined to determine whether it was used in both shootings.
Drew said he’d spoken to the mothers of both Uzzle and Eaton. Both Stewart and Macy were in good spirits when he visited them.
“They both had the same comment,” Drew said. “Officer Stewart asked how Macy was as soon as we saw him. And Macy, who was doing a ride-along with this department — her first question was, ‘How is officer Stewart?'”
When asked by reporters, Drew said that the department was considering its ride-along policies.
Drew didn’t directly answer if it was normal for officers with ride-alongs to respond in such situation. He said that their policy is consistent with other departments and that it was a priority to have officers in the area to stop Uzzle or Uzzle’s vehicle, which may have had evidence, from leaving.
“Officer Stewart and Macy were parked about a block or a block and a half away, way out of that area. Not in front of that house, not right behind it, not at the side — way out of the way,” Drew said. “The reason that those two individuals were hurt was because Mr. Uzzle came out and, ambush-style, shot into that vehicle multiple times.”
The Newport News commonwealth’s attorney’s office, homicide unit and internal affairs units are investigating. Drew said he’s been in contact with the city manager’s office, Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn and Mayor McKinley Price about the response.
Police scheduled two community walks Monday afternoon in a shopping center on Ottis Street near the Circle K and in Cottage Grove.
“Without going into the case and some of the evidence that we have, I think Mr. Uzzle was determined to do what he did,” Drew said.
