In the early hours of April 20, 2024, two men were found fatally shot on the 600 block of Lancer Drive in Portsmouth, Virginia. Police discovered 31-year-old Eric Pernell Jones Jr. in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to his head and 32-year-old Russell Branden Barnes in front of a residence with gunshot wounds to the back of his left thigh and to his right eye. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives interviewed witnesses at the scene. A man identified as Jamal Antonio Parham returned to Lancer Drive, approached a detective and admitted to shooting Jones, indicating the gun had been left on the front seat of his vehicle. Parham was taken into custody and charged in the killings of both men; he later pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and was sentenced to an active term of 30 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised probation upon release.

Anyone with information about Eric Jones Jr., Russell Barnes, or the events that night is asked to come forward.