A suspect in a fatal stabbing on Easter in Newport News was arrested later that night at a York County gas station.
York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a gas station on George Washington Memorial Highway around 8:30 p.m., after a relative of Lawrence Smith, 43, called the sheriff’s office so Smith could turn himself in, according to Shelley Ward, sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
Smith is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 39-year-old Laquita Ball.
According to a Newport News Police Department Facebook post, police were dispatched to a house in the 100 block of Louise Drive in Newport News around 5:45 p.m. for a reported stabbing.
Police arrived to find Ball suffering from several stab wounds. She was transported to a local hospital, where she died at 7:22 p.m.
Police identified Smith, who was known to Ball, as a suspect in the stabbing.
After Smith’s relative called the sheriff’s office around 8:45 p.m., both sheriff’s office deputies and Newport News Police responded to the gas station, a Wawa located near the intersection of Wolf Trap Road and George Washington Memorial Highway.
Newport News detectives took Smith into custody when they arrived, Ward said.
“We were happy to assist with getting this suspect off the street,” a York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office Facebook post reads.
