On Tuesday, a shooting occurred at a high school graduation ceremony on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, killing a man and his graduating 18-year-old son, Shawn Smith.
According to Tameeka Jackson-Smith, who spoke to NBC, five other people were hurt in the incident that also claimed the lives of her son, Renzo Smith, 36, and her husband.
According to NBC, a local organization called United Communities Against Crime also revealed the names of the murdered father and son on behalf of the family.
A 19-year-old guy was one of the two people first detained and was implicated in the shooting, according to interim Richmond police chief Rick Edwards. He said that the second person taken into custody was unrelated.
According to Edwards, the suspect, who has not been officially identified, is charged with two charges of second-degree murder. He claimed that according to the authorities, the suspect knew at least one of the victims.
Smith had been in attendance to watch his son graduate, Edwards said. Police had not yet publicly released the names of the victims as of early Wednesday.
The five injured victims — all male — are ages 14 to 58, he said.
One of them, who is 31 years old, was being treated for life-threatening injuries, and four had injuries not thought to be life-threatening, police said.
Nine more people were treated for anxiety and minor injuries and two people for falls, police said. A 9-year-old who was hit by a car was treated at the scene and released and later went to a hospital, police said.
Mayor Levar M. Stoney said, “Children were involved here, at graduation. This is tragic but also traumatic. Because this is their graduation day.”
The shooting took place at Monroe Park, an open space on campus, at 5:13 pm, authorities said. Four firearms were recovered, Edwards said.
Five people were taken to the hospital from the area with gunshot wounds, and two more gunshot victims self-transported to the hospital, police said.
Huguenot High School’s graduation was scheduled to be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Altria Theater, adjacent to the park, according to the school’s website.
In a notice posted on its website, Richmond Public Schools said the shooting took place in the park after the graduation ceremony. It said that all district schools would be closed Wednesday and that all high school graduations this week have been cancelled.
