Police have charged a 19-year-old suspect in the mass shooting outside a Virginia high school graduation ceremony Tuesday that left a longtime rival and his father dead just moments after the ceremony concluded.
Cops said Amari Pollard gunned down Shawn Jackson, 18, and his father, Renzo Smith, 36, after a yearlong feud with his teenage target.
Pollard, of Enrico County, was arraigned on two charges of second-degree murder Wednesday morning and held without bail.
“I still can’t shake the image of Shawn receiving CPR on the ground still in his graduation gown,” Richmond School District Superintendent Jason Kamras said at a Wednesday briefing as his voice quivered.
Pollard opened fire on the joyous gathering around 5:15 p.m. as jubilant families milled outside the Altria Theater after seeing Huguenot High School graduates walk the stage to receive their diplomas.
Cops said a total of seven people were hit by gunfire, including Jackson and his father. The remaining five victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said the shocking incident has sparked concerns over retaliation, and that local “violence interrupters” have been deployed to quell tensions.
“They knew each other and had an ongoing dispute,” Edwards said, adding that there were no indications that the shooting was gang-related at this point.
Video of the incident shows a crowd of celebrants chatting and congratulating each other before a volley of gunshots suddenly rang out and sent panicked crowds scampering for safety.
“Our city, our community will not be defined by this violence. Huguenot High School will not be defined by this violence,” said Mayor Levar Stoney. “We will heal, we will recover and this will not break us.”
Stoney called on prosecutors to punish Pollard for the mass shooting.
“The individual who committed this senseless and cowardly act must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
Kamras described Jackson as a sociable and popular presence who had to overcome personal adversity to graduate.
He noted that he shook his hand after bestowing his graduation diploma — and that he was dead 20 minutes later.
“Those who did know Shawn described him as bubbly and the life of the party,” Karmas said. “Getting to the graduation stage was not easy. Nevertheless he did it. And he was rightly proud and smiling and celebrating like all of his peers. And then just a few minutes later, while enjoying the moment with his family in Monroe Park, he was gunned down.”
Kamras added three students from another school in the district were shot in a separate incident just 24 hours prior.
“This needs to stop,” he said.
