RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — During the Richmond Police Department’s quarterly crime briefing, Police Chief Gerald Smith told reporters he no longer wishes to discuss the alleged mass shooting plot.
“We are closing all discussion about the planned Fourth of July mass shooting,” Chief Smith said before beginning the crime statistics briefing. “The matter is now in the hands of the federal government. As I’ve often stated, we will follow wherever the investigation leads us.”
Less than a week earlier, Chief Smith had stood by his earlier statements that Dogwood Dell was the target of the alleged mass shooting plot.
“We’ve taken all circumstances into account,” Smith said Wednesday afternoon. “Actually being able to see things that are in the case file and everything that’s taken place and how it works, the circumstances of what [was] going on on the Fourth of July. You’d be hard-pressed to come up with another location besides Dogwood Dell.”
Chief Smith went on to commend the efforts of RPD officers involved in the case.
“The officers did a great job, an absolutely phenomenal job,” he said. “And I just commend them every day for it.”