Two people were killed and five others were injured in Virginia’s capital city in the most recent mass shooting to hit the country.
When a shooter opened fire outside a graduation ceremony in downtown Richmond, Virginia, two people were killed: a high school graduate who had just gotten his diploma and his stepfather.
Hundreds of people gathered at the city-owned Altria Theater after Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on Tuesday, when the shooting took place, according to police, and five additional victims were also injured. The frightened throng, which had congregated in a park on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, across from the theater, sustained at least 12 additional non-gunshot wounds.
Interim Richmond police chief Rick Edwards told reporters on Tuesday night that as soon as they heard shooting, there was “obvious chaos.” People dispersed because Monroe Park was packed with hundreds of people. The setting was really tumultuous.
Shawn Jackson, 18 years old, and his stepfather, Renzo Smith, 36 years old, were both killed by the shooter, according to Tameeka Jackson-Smith, who spoke to the Associated Press. The chaos that followed the sound of gunfire resulted in her daughter, age nine, being hit by a car and suffering a leg injury.
In the park, Jackson-Smith claimed she was on her way to her husband and son when she saw a shooter approach from behind them. “So many people got shot all over the place, I don’t know if he was shooting at everyone. Seven or eight people, roughly, were lying there.
Smith reportedly went to the ceremony to see his stepson graduate, according to Edwards. Amari Pollard, a 19-year-old suspect, is thought to have known at least one victim, according to the police. The police head said, “This ought to have been a secure area. At a graduation, people ought to feel secure.
Indicted on two counts of second-degree murder, Pollard was reportedly arraigned on Wednesday morning.
