By Mike Holtzclaw and Ashley Kelly
928-6479 247-4778
11:03 PM EST, December 16, 2009
NEWPORT NEWS — It was a little before 10 p.m. when David Carter Sr. heard someone knocking at his door.
On the other side was his neighbor's 12-year-old daughter, dressed in a towel with blood on her chest.
"Can you help me?" she asked.
"With what?" he said.
"Can you call 911? My mother is dead."
Tynesha Barksdale was shot to death at Auburn Chase Apartments on Tuesday night while her two daughters bathed nearby.
Barksdale, 34, was killed in her apartment on Turlington Road just before 10 p.m. Police arrested her boyfriend, 39-year-old Aaron Lynell Harris, and charged him with murder, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Police spokesman Harold Eley said it had been a "domestic situation" between the two, who shared the apartment with Barksdale's 9- and 12-year-old daughters.
Eley said the girls were in the bathroom when they heard gunshots. They came out of the bathroom and found their mother bleeding from a gunshot wound to her face. Harris called police to report that his girlfriend had been shot, Eley said.
Police found Harris sitting in the living room and Barksdale dead in the bedroom. Eley said Harris did not confess but gave officers "a lot of conflicting information." He was questioned, and on Wednesday morning was arrested and charged in the killing, which is the 24th in Newport News this year and the city's third in the last week.
Harris was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon in 2005, according to court documents. He was sentenced to five years in prison, with three years suspended.
Carter said the couple moved in about a month ago. They kept to themselves but would speak in passing, he said. Harris works as a cook, according to an arrest card.
Another neighbor said she heard fussing earlier that night — then she heard screaming. When she looked out, she heard the 12-year-old girl saying: "My mom is dead. My mom is dead."
Barksdale's death marked the second time in the same day that a parent in Newport News was gunned down in close proximity to his or her children.
Earlier Tuesday, 23-year-old Lafayette Bailey was shot to death by intruders who had broken into his mobile home on Spur Drive looking for drugs they believed he had. His fiancee and their two children were in the home but were not harmed. No suspects have been identified in Bailey's homicide.
Eley said Barksdale's two girls are being cared for by relatives.
On Wednesday afternoon, nothing looked amiss outside Barksdale's apartment. A Christmas decoration with pine cones, berries and red bells hung from the front door. Plastered on a window was a picture of a smiling Santa Claus toting a bag full of gifts.
Copyright © 2009, Newport News, Va., Daily Press
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