Late on April 25, 2021, 19-year-old U.S. Navy Seaman Haniah JaLinda Sturdivant was shot while sitting in her car in the 900 block of Armfield Circle in Norfolk, Virginia. Police arriving about 10:55 p.m. found her with multiple gunshot wounds; she was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, underwent emergency surgery, and died hours later. Before she died, medics say she identified her shooter.

Investigators focused on 22-year-old Robert Laron Jackson, who had met Sturdivant through a mutual Navy friend while visiting Norfolk. Jackson reportedly developed a romantic interest that was not returned after Sturdivant began a new relationship. In the days before the shooting he told a friend he intended to harm Sturdivant’s new boyfriend and Sturdivant if she interfered. On the night of April 25 Sturdivant had been with a group of Navy friends that included Jackson; later that evening he shot her outside her boyfriend’s apartment and fled the state.

Jackson was located and arrested in Miami in July 2021 during a traffic stop; he was wanted on several outstanding warrants in Florida at the time. Does anyone have additional details about Sturdivant’s time in Norfolk or about witnesses from that night?