RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond leaders say they’re taking action after two teenagers were shot in the city in five days.
The latest shooting happened Monday night near Kinsley Avenue and Sunbury Road in the city’s Southside. Officers said a 14-year-old boy had been shot and was rushed to the hospital in life-threatening condition. Bicycles could be seen scattered throughout the crime scene.
Four days earlier, a 17-year-old Huguenot High School student was shot while walking toward a bus stop. He, too, was rushed to the hospital in life-threatening condition.
Both shootings happened in the City’s ninth district, represented by Councilman Michael Jones.
“If you want to know, I’m mad as hell. I’m mad. Black kids should not be getting shot like this,” Jones said. “I saw three bikes in the middle of the road and that’s what pissed me off because it’s kids getting shot. I know they may say teen, but these are kids.”
Jones tells 8News, after Monday’s shooting, he went to the hospital to show support to the victim’s family.
“I didn’t go to get information. Just to show support,” he said.
In an interview, 8News pressed the councilman on solutions to curb the troubling trend of teen violence in the city. In 2022 alone, at least five RPS students have been victims of gun violence, and three have died.
Jones believes conflict resolution could be an answer.
“These kids…they’re not thugs. They’re not gang-bangers or out here dealing drugs. They have some issues they need to learn how to handle from conflict resolution, but this cant be the resolution,” Jones said. “Assign case workers to these young people to make sure that if there is a disturbance or issue in the school, we don’t say ‘schools deal with it.’ We need DSS to come in and assist and conflict resolution.”
The councilman also pointed to the “long-awaited ‘violence interrupters” as a solution. In February, Police Chief Gerald Smith stood next to the mayor to announce that gun violence interrupter roles were coming, but the job posting did not close until mid-April.
As of October, the position has not hit the ground.
“Get interrupters out there, from these communities. They’re getting trained up now. We need to get them out of the streets,” Jones said.
After a meeting with Mayor Stoney, Jones said there are other solutions “in the works,” but they would “take some time” to actually deal with the violence. In the meantime, he’s calling on the city, school leaders, and the community to come together.
“We need to empower our communities to ensure our young people make it and that’ll I’ll never see three bikes in the middle of a bloody road,” he said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Richmond Police had not released any suspect information. According to sources, both shooting victims are in stable condition.
Anyone with information related to either shooting is asked to call Richmond Police at 803-646-5112.