RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Seven people were shot, two dead, when gunfire rang out Tuesday outside a downtown theater where a high school graduation ceremony had just ended, prompting attendees fled in terror, crying and holding their children, authorities and witnesses reported.
A 19-year-old suspect tried to flee but was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder, Interim Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said at an overnight news conference where he confirmed the two deaths.
Five others were wounded in the shooting outside the Altria Theater in the Virginia capital and in a nearby park. At least 12 others were injured or treated for anxiety over the unrest, according to police.
“As they heard the gunshots, it was clear chaos,” Edwards said. “We had hundreds of people in Monroe Park, so people were scattered. It was a very chaotic scene.”
Edwards said that the two deceased were men, aged 18 and 36. Their names were not released, but the police believe that the suspect, who was not immediately identified, knew at least one of the victims.
The police recovered several weapons.
Police initially said two suspects were in custody, but Edwards later said one of them was determined not to be involved.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney vowed to make sure whoever is responsible faces justice.
It doesn’t happen anywhere else,” Stoney said.
Officers inside the theater, where the graduation ceremony for Huguenot High School was taking place, heard gunshots around 5:15 p.m. and radioed police who were stationed outside, who found several victims, Edwards said.
School board member Jonathan Young told Richmond TV station WWBT that graduates and other attendees were leaving the building when they heard about 20 gunshots in quick succession.
“That prompted, as you would expect, hundreds of people in an effort to escape the gunfire to get back into the building,” Young said.
“It happened in a stampede,” he said.
Two people were treated for falls; a youth was hit by a car and sustained non-life threatening injuries; and 9 people were treated at the scene for minor injuries or concerns, according to police spokeswoman Tracy Walker.
Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras said the new graduates were outside taking photos with family and friends when the shooting happened.
“I don’t have another word to say about it,” Kamras said. “I’m just tired of seeing people being shot, our children being shot. And I’m begging the whole community to stop, to just stop.”
When he heard gunshots and then sirens, neighbor John Willard, 69, climbed onto the balcony of his 18th-floor apartment. Below, he saw students running away in their graduation outfits and parents hugging their children.
“There was a poor woman in front of the apartment block next to us wailing and crying,” Willard said, adding that the scene made him sad.
Edythe Payne helps her daughter sell flowers outside the theater to students as they leave the ceremony. He told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the shooting caused a panic on nearby Main Street, which was full of people at the time.
“I felt bad because some of the seniors were at graduation and they fell to the ground,” Payne said.
The school district said a separate graduation scheduled for later Tuesday was canceled “out of an abundance of caution” and schools would be closed Wednesday.
___ Associated Press reporters Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed to this report.