Global Courant
Police say a 19-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the mass shooting and found in possession of four handguns.
A man armed with four handguns killed two people and wounded five others when he fired into a crowd after a high school graduation ceremony in the US city of Richmond, Virginia, police said.
Police said they have arrested a suspect, a 19-year-old man, in connection with Tuesday’s shooting near a graduation theater next to the Virginia Commonwealth University campus.
The suspect would likely face two counts of first-degree murder in addition to other felonies, Richmond’s interim police chief Rick Edwards told a news conference.
Edwards called the attacker’s behavior “disgusting and cowardly” as his dispute appeared to be with just one person.
The deceased were men aged 18 and 36, Edwards said.
Among the injured, a 31-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries and four other men, ages 14, 32, 55 and 58, were believed to survive, Edwards said. In addition, a nine-year-old girl was hit by a car in the chaos that followed, while several other people were injured in falls or suffered from anxiety, Edwards said.
The suspect fled on foot and was captured in possession of four handguns, three of which may have been fired, Edwards said, stressing that it was too early in the investigation to be certain.
Richmond Public Schools said in a post on its website that the shooting occurred in Monroe Park, across the street from the theater and adjacent to the college campus, after a graduation ceremony for Huguenot High School.
Jason Kamras, superintendent of Richmond Public Schools, said the graduation ceremony had ended and the recent graduates were outside taking pictures with their families and friends when the shooting broke out.
“When you have a crowd like that, innocent people are going to get caught up in the chaos and that’s what happened today,” Edwards said.
The US has become accustomed to mass shootings in public places such as schools, malls and churches.
