Virginia Beach Board to Re-Examine 2021 Fatal Police Shooting
The Independent Citizen Review Board in Virginia Beach is revisiting the 2021 fatal shooting of Donovon Lynch by a police officer. Five years after the incident, the board will re-examine the details and aftermath of the shooting. The review is intended to provide greater transparency and may lead to recommendations for police policy changes.
- The officer who shot the 25-year-old Donovon Lynch was Solomon Simmons. A special grand jury later found the shooting to be justified, and no criminal charges were filed against him. - The shooting occurred during a chaotic night at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront in March 2021, which involved three separate shooting incidents that left another person dead and several others wounded. - Officer Simmons' body camera was not activated at the time of the shooting, which has been a central point of contention in the case. - Donovon Lynch was the cousin of musician and Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams, which drew significant media attention to the case. - In late 2022, the City of Virginia Beach agreed to pay a $3 million settlement to the Lynch family to resolve a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit. In a joint statement, the city acknowledged that the death "should never have occurred." - Wayne Lynch, Donovon's father, presented a 35-page report from a former NYPD review board member to the citizen board, which argued that Officer Simmons did not use any de-escalation tactics. - A friend who was with Lynch the night of his death maintains that Lynch never drew his legally carried firearm and that his last words were questioning why the officer had shot him. - The Independent Citizen Review Board's recent examination of the case ended without a consensus, as only six of the eleven board members were present to vote. This means no official recommendations will be sent to the city manager.
