VB business owners worry about safety

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Following a double shooting at the Oceanfront last weekend, local business owners say they worry about the lack of police presence in the area.

Surf shop owner Rick Kowalewitch says he believes the victims of the shooting that occurred on 17th Street around 2 a.m. Dec. 29 were recorded running by his security cameras.

"The shots came from this area and they ran back towards 17th Street and evidently the ambulance must have picked them up over there because there was blood," Kowalewitch said.

Neither of the victims sustained life threatening injuries in the incident, but Kowalewitch said he thinks violent crime is becoming more prevalent at the Oceanfront and tragedy could be just around the corner.

"Obviously those bullets kill," Kowalewitch said. "What's it gonna take before somebody responds to this? Somebody dying out here?"

Some businesses even have to close down during the late night hours to avoid attracting post-club clientele.

"When you have a business like the 7-Eleven at 17th [Street] and Pacific [Avenue], they have to close down while these bars are letting out because the patrons of the bar go into 7-11 and steal everything... and the ABC Board ought to be ashamed of [themselves] for not closing these people up."

According to Grazia Moyers with the Virginia Beach Police Department, the two victims of Saturday's shooting were leaving a club.

"The victims in that case were leaving a club down at the Oceanfront but this happened in the parking lot," Moyers said.

Moyers said police do monitor and keep records with regard to violent crimes that take place in, outside, or around various establishments and share that information with the state ABC Board.

Additionally, Moyers said it can take up to a year to build a case strong enough to revoke an establishment's liquor license and acknowledges what appears to be an increase in the number of police calls occurring in the winter months at the beach.