Two people were killed and five others injured in a shooting in the American city of Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday. The shots were fired in the center of the city after a high school graduation ceremony.
The fatalities are an 18-year-old schoolboy and a 36-year-old man who were present at the ceremony. A 19-year-old suspect has been arrested. He is believed to be known to at least one of the victims, Richmond’s interim police chief Rick Edwards said at a news conference. Another suspect who was arrested has since been released.
One of the injured, a 31-year-old man, is in critical condition. A 9-year-old girl was also injured in the incident when she was hit by a car. She was treated at the hospital Tuesday night for non-life-threatening injuries, Edwards said.
Graduation
Edwards said officers were present at the Virginia Commonwealth University theater where the graduation ceremony was taking place. After the ceremony, when the first people left the room, shots were heard. Officers immediately ran outside, where they saw several victims with gunshot wounds.
“We will do everything we can to bring those responsible to justice,” Mayor Levar Stoney said at the press conference. “This shouldn’t be happening anywhere.”
Richmond Public Schools wrote in a post on its website that the shooting occurred in Monroe Park, near the university campus, after a graduation from Huguenot High School. The school district says another graduation ceremony scheduled for later Tuesday has been canceled as a precaution and schools will remain closed on Wednesday.
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