On the afternoon of September 18, 2022, Aaron Wayne Leach Jr., 22, was shot multiple times while sitting in his SUV on Creamer Road in Norfolk’s Bayview neighborhood. Leach attempted to flee after being shot and crashed into a parked car, but his wounds were fatal and he died at the scene.

Police focused on a 20-year-old acquaintance, Emilio Rodriquez-Lopez, who was found with a gunshot wound to his abdomen at a nearby home and initially said he had acted in self-defense, claiming Leach tried to rob him. Investigators say the shooting occurred during what developed into a drug transaction, that Rodriquez-Lopez fired from the front passenger seat, and that a second person waiting nearby also fired into the vehicle, striking Leach. Reports say Rodriquez-Lopez was wounded by friendly fire from that second shooter. No evidence indicated Leach was armed.

Anyone with information about Aaron Leach Jr., the shooting on Creamer Road, or the people involved is asked to come forward.