It was chaos on the streets of Portsmouth over the weekend, with police investigating burning cars and at least three reported shootings.
The problems started early when residents of 7th Street reported vehicles in flames just after 4 am.
Firefighters and officers headed to the scene. Two vehicles, a Chevy SUV and a Dodge Charger, were damaged by the flames.
Firefighters got the fire out by 5:43 am. However, officers said the vehicles were too badly damaged to get the VIN numbers. That meant police weren’t able to figure out who owned them at the scene. But the chaos was just getting started.
Around 1:45 pm, witnesses reported multiple gunshots on Court Street and two men running into the house where the cars burned earlier.
Officers discovered a vehicle with apparent bullet damage and collected shell casings from the scene. Portsmouth Police took a man into custody and took him to the police station for questioning.
Around 7:45 pm, a Linden Avenue caller told police she heard six gunshots at the bottom of Linden. Officers checked the area near the Royal Inn and the alley near Mabert but didn’t notice anything suspicious. The woman provided video of what sounded like gunshots to police, but they weren’t able to locate where the shots came from.
Just after midnight on Sunday, a Jackson Avenue witness called 911 to report two strange men and a woman on his porch, saying they’d just been shot and needed police.
When officers arrived, the victims gave them the names of the alleged shooters and descriptions of two vehicles involved in the incident. They described one as a maroon sedan dragging a muffler and the other as a black SUV. Officers took information for a report and EMS responded to check on two people.