SWAT team responds to motel
Published 10:27 pm Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Officers following up on recent robberies of a 7-Eleven and a Family Dollar store got more than they hoped for when they tracked down a suspect Tuesday morning.
Police received information that Kevon Cornell Hawkins, 23, was involved in the 7-Eleven robbery Sunday in Chuckatuck as well as the Family Dollar robbery on Jan. 7 in the 800 block of West Constance Road, according to a press release from city spokeswoman Diana Klink.
They also obtained information Hawkins was possibly staying at a hotel in the downtown area of Suffolk with an adult female acquaintance, the press release stated.
Officers began checking downtown hotels and found the female acquaintance was a registered guest at the Super 8 Motel in the 600 block of North Main Street.
Several officers approached the door of the room where the woman was registered, knocked once and got no response, according to the press release. They knocked again and then “heard what sounded like a round being chambered into a firearm,” Klink’s press release stated.
The SWAT team was called to the scene about 9:49 a.m.
The female acquaintance eventually came out of the room uninjured. Shortly after, officers heard several gunshots fired from within the room.
Shortly thereafter, Hawkins, the only other occupant of the room, opened the door, crawled out and was taken into custody, Klink stated. He had at least one self-inflicted gunshot wound underneath his chin, and a firearm was located within the room.
He is hospitalized at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
Hawkins has outstanding warrants in Suffolk for attempted malicious wounding, possession of a stolen firearm, five counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, three counts of robbery, four counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony, three counts of wearing a mask in public, burglary, grand larceny, two counts of discharging a firearm in an occupied building, obstructing justice and resisting arrest.
He also has outstanding warrants out of North Carolina for kidnapping.
“In addition, Hawkins is currently being investigated for multiple business robberies and residential burglaries,” Klink stated.
Klink said the female acquaintance is not currently being charged. The second subject involved in both robberies still is being investigated, Klink added.