16-year-old killed in NN identified

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - Newport News Police are investigating a shooting that left a teenager dead.

Police spokesman Lou Thurston told WAVY.com officers responded to the 100 block of Heritage Way in the Heritage Trace Apartments for a shots fired call. Upon arrival, officers found 16-year-old Ricky La'Twan Platt lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his torso.

Officers performed CPR on the teen, but were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead at 12:19 a.m.

"Nobody believed in him, but we did," Platt's sister Keynia Lance said. "His family loved him. Everybody just doesn't understand the pain that we all have."

Neighbors told police they heard gunshots just after midnight, but claimed they didn't see anything.

"He helped me whenever I needed help with anything," Lance said. "If I needed help with my homework, he would come in and help me with it and I would go to school the next day and know everything because of him."

The investigation is ongoing as detectives attempt to establish a possible motive in the case. Anyone with any information is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.