Two people were shot dead and five others wounded after a gunman opened fire in a park in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday as high school graduates and their families emerged from a theater where commencement exercises had just concluded, police said.
Police arrested a suspect, an 19-year-old man, and planned to charge him with two counts of second-degree murder in addition to other possible offenses, interim Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards and other officials told reporters.
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The shooting occurred outside the Altria Theater on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, where local high school graduation ceremonies were being held.
The deceased were men aged 18 and 36, Edwards said. He did not confirm a WWBT television news report that the victims were father and son.
Edwards said officers inside a theater where the graduation was taking place heard the gunfire, went outside and saw multiple victims with gunshot wounds.
{{/usCountry}}Edwards said officers inside a theater where the graduation was taking place heard the gunfire, went outside and saw multiple victims with gunshot wounds.
{{/usCountry}}Four had injuries that were not life-threatening, he said.
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Police did not believe there was any ongoing threat to the community.
“We’re going to do everything we can to bring the individuals involved in this to justice,” Mayor Levar Stoney said at the news conference. “This should not be happening anywhere.”Richmond Public Schools said in a message on its website that the shooting took place in Monroe Park, which is near the college campus, after a graduation ceremony for Huguenot High School.
VCU advised the community in an online alert around 5:30 p.m. that police were responding after shots were fired. State police sent an alert warning people to avoid the area.
The school district said a different graduation scheduled for later Tuesday had been cancelled “out of an abundance of caution" and that schools would be closed Wednesday.