Tony Lamont Deans was 32 when he was fatally shot in Portsmouth, Virginia, in the early hours of January 3, 2021. Police were called to the 20th block of Merrimac Drive just after midnight for a man with a gunshot wound to his upper body; officers and medics found Deans and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Portsmouth Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit opened a homicide investigation. Detectives initially named two people as persons of interest but later cleared both and said they were no longer considered connected to the shooting. No suspects have been publicly identified, and police have not released a motive or other details about what led to the shooting.

Anyone who has information about Tony Deans’s death or who was in the Merrimac Drive area that night is asked to contact the Portsmouth Police Department.