City of Hopewell

206 Winston Churchill Dr., Hopewell, VA

1:40 AM

Gunshot

Argument

2 cousins fatally shot hours apart / One killed leaving party at Hopewell’s VFW club, the other in Richmond
By Michael Martz And Luz Lazo
Times-Dispatch Staff Writers
Tuesday,February 5, 2008

Alfonzo and James Patillo went to one last party together and then died apart.

The two Richmond cousins were shot to death yesterday, one after leaving a Super Bowl party in Hopewell and the other in the front yard of his home in Richmond’s East End.

“This family is not just upset - this family is destroyed,” said Alicia Rasin, a Richmond community activist who knew both men and comforted their families yesterday.

Alfonzo “Fonz” Patillo, 30, was shot as he left a party with his cousin at the Veterans of Foreign Wars club in Hopewell yesterday about 1:40 a.m.

Hopewell police found him dead from a gunshot wound in the left temple. He was found in the parking lot, at

206 Winston Churchill Drive, after police received an emergency call from outside the club.

His death was Hopewell’s first homicide of the year.

James “Soul” Patillo, who would have been 38 on Saturday, came home to Richmond distraught and in grief early yesterday, Rasin said. He stepped outside his home at 2519 Ford Ave. - “for a breath of fresh air,” Rasin said - about 8:40 a.m., when he was shot to death.

Patillo fell between the front steps and the driveway of the one-story brick home, a block from Mechanicsville Turnpike. His death was the fourth homicide in Richmond this year.

Richmond police said yesterday that they are working with police in Hopewell on the homicides, though Hopewell police said at a brief news conference only that they were “sharing notes” with investigators in Richmond.

Information may be available from the medical examiner’s office this week on whether the two victims were shot with the same gun.

Hopewell police did not discuss the relationship between the two victims or release any information about the party they attended together on the last night of their lives.

In Richmond, police released a description of the suspect in James Patillo’s killing - a black male, mid-20s, about 6 feet tall, weighing 200 to 250 pounds, last seen wearing a black jacket with white-and-red patches or logos, and a black baseball hat.

Police say the killer may have left the area in a dusty, dark blue, four-door sedan.

“We have no idea whether the suspect is the same,” Hopewell Police Chief Steven D. Martin said when asked about the Richmond suspect.

Residents near the VFW said they were in shock to hear about the shooting. The neighborhood is safe, although they have heard of several incidents in and outside the club, some neighbors said.

The club, which is in the industrial corridor of Hopewell, holds parties regularly, residents said. Police said they have received few complaints about the establishment.

The two killings sent a ripple of shock through Richmond’s East End community, where both men lived. Alfonzo lived with his mother on North 38th Street, Rasin said, while James lived with an aunt at the house on Ford Avenue.

One woman who would not give her name said yesterday that she was coming to James Patillo’s house to comfort the family over Alfonzo’s death when she saw the crime scene.

Police sealed off Ford Avenue from Mechanicsville Turnpike to Bryan Street, and behind the Shop and Go store at the intersection of the turnpike and Fairfield Way, next to Patillo’s backyard.

Black screens shielded the body from public view while police collected evidence.

Rasin asked yesterday for people to take a moment and pray for the family.

A candlelight prayer vigil in memory of both cousins is planned for Thursday at 6 p.m. in front of James Patillo’s house on Ford Avenue.

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Man will be questioned in killings / He surrenders to police, who will ask him about slayings of two cousins
By Mark Bowes
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Tuesday,February 12, 2008

A man wanted for questioning in the killings of two cousins last week surrendered to Richmond police yesterday without incident, authorities said.

Jason L. Patillo, 24, was charged with a parole violation, but Richmond investigators said they are also interested in talking to him about the killing of James J. “Soul” Patillo on Feb. 4 in front of his home at 2519 Ford Ave., a block off Mechanicsville Turnpike.

James Patillo, 37, was killed seven hours after his cousin, Alfonzo “Fonz” Patillo, 30, was shot to death as he left a party with James Patillo at the Veterans of Foreign Wars club in Hopewell. Police are not talking about their murder investigations, either in Richmond or Hopewell.

Jason and James Patillo were cousins, said Richmond police spokeswoman Mary Hope-Gangwer. But she did not know whether Jason and Alfonzo Patillo were related.

Jason Patillo is well-known to Richmond police and prosecutors.

He had been charged with killing Levar Robinson, 25, who was found fatally shot in the 1900 block of Raven Street in the East End on Feb. 11, 2007 about 4:30 a.m. But prosecutors dropped the charges last summer because a key witness did not show up for the trial. Authorities described the witness as a close friend of the victim.

Police did not disclose the nature of Patillo’s parole violation or for what offense he had been placed on parole. Patillo was charged Jan. 3 in Richmond with misdemeanor trespassing for an offense that occurred on Dec. 31, according to court records. A hearing in that case was set for March 11.

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Richmond man is indicted on murder count in cousin’s death
By Michael Martz
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Thursday,May 8, 2008

A Richmond man has been indicted in the shooting death of his cousin.

Authorities believe Jason L. Patillo killed his cousin in retaliation for the death of another cousin hours earlier.

Jason Patillo appeared yesterday in Richmond Circuit Court on charges of murder, using a firearm in the killing and possessing a firearm as a felon in the death of James “Soul” Patillo.

James Patillo, 37, was shot to death Feb. 4 outside his home on Ford Avenue in Church Hill, seven hours after Alphonso “Fonz” Patillo, his 30-year-old cousin, was gunned down outside a club in Hopewell. James and Alphonso Patillo had attended a Super Bowl party at the club.

No one has been charged in the Hopewell killing, but Richmond prosecutors say they believe Jason Patillo, 25, killed James Patillo because he believed that James was responsible for setting up Alphonso to be robbed.

On Tuesday, a multijurisdictional grand jury indicted Jason Patillo, and he appeared twice yesterday before Circuit Judge Bradley B. Cavedo to ensure legal representation and set a preliminary hearing for June 4.

Cavedo appointed attorney William T. Linka to represent Jason Patillo, who has been in police custody since surrendering Feb. 11 as a person of interest in James’ death. Jason Patillo confirmed that Linka already is representing him in a probation-violation case in Culpeper County.

Jason Patillo is being held in a regional jail on the Culpeper charge.

He also faces a federal charge of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.

He was convicted Tuesday in Richmond General District Court of trespassing at a Richmond public-housing complex and was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with six months suspended, according to Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew P. Geary.

Jason Patillo was tried on a murder charge in the death of Lavar Robinson in Richmond’s East End last year, but the charge was dropped after a witness refused to testify.