Police said detectives are investigating the Sunday morning homicide at Magnolia Chase Apartments.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — A Navy servicemember was killed and another servicemember was taken into custody after a domestic-related shooting Sunday morning at an apartment complex in Virginia Beach, police and local reports said.
Virginia Beach police said officers were investigating a gun-related homicide in the 5000 block of Magnolia Chase Way, in the city’s Kempsville area. The shooting drew a large police response to Magnolia Chase Apartments and left detectives working through evidence at what officials described as an active and fluid scene.
Police first reported the investigation Sunday, May 31, after officers responded to the apartment complex. Early information from the Virginia Beach Police Department said detectives with the department’s Detective Bureau were processing evidence and developing leads. “Additional details will be released as the investigation progresses,” police said in an initial update. By later Sunday, local reports said the case involved two Navy servicemembers, one dead and another in custody.
Officials had not released the name of the person killed as of Monday, June 1. Authorities also had not publicly named the person in custody or announced formal charges in the case. The relationship between the two servicemembers was not fully detailed, but police and local reports described the case as domestic-related. Investigators also were looking at an earlier, undisclosed incident that reportedly brought police to the same Magnolia Chase apartment the day before the fatal shooting.
Magnolia Chase Apartments sits in a residential part of Virginia Beach, east of Interstate 64 and near neighborhoods tied closely to Hampton Roads’ large military community. Virginia Beach and nearby Norfolk are home to many active-duty Navy personnel, families and civilian workers. That military presence gives local violent crime cases involving sailors a wider reach, especially when police and Navy officials must sort out both criminal and command channels.
The Virginia Beach Police Department is leading the homicide investigation. In cases involving active-duty military members, local police may coordinate with Navy officials or federal military investigators, but police had not detailed any outside agency’s role in this case by Monday. Detectives were expected to review physical evidence, interview witnesses, confirm the timeline from the earlier police response and determine what happened before the shooting.
The apartment complex remained the center of the investigation as neighbors waited for more information. Police did not report an ongoing threat to the wider community in the available updates. No public briefing had identified the weapon, the number of shots fired or whether anyone else was inside the apartment at the time. Those details remained part of the pending investigation.
The case stood Monday as a homicide investigation with one Navy servicemember dead and another in custody. Police said more information would be released as detectives confirm details and the next procedural step could come through formal charge announcements or court records.
Author note: Last updated June 1, 2026.