Police investigate shooting that left 17-year-old George Wythe student dead
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -Police in Richmond are investigating a shooting that left a 17-year-old dead Sunday morning.
Authorities went to the 2200 block of Afton Avenue around 2:24 a.m. for reports of a person shot.
Responding officers found a girl inside a residence with a gunshot wound; she was pronounced dead at the scene.
A spokesperson with Richmond Public School confirmed Sunday afternoon that the victim was a 17-year-old George Wythe student.
A family member of the victim told NBC12 on Sunday morning that the victim’s mother was out of state at the time of the shooting and immediately was on her way back to Richmond after learning of her daughter’s death.
In broad daylight at the apartment where the shooting happened, a busted window, now covered with wood, could be seen.
Detectives at the scene said they were working as hard as they can to find answers to this incident.
One woman who declined to reveal her identity said that she heard shots being fired hours before police arrived.
“I heard gunshot’s around 11 p.m., it was like a spurt,” the woman said. “You don’t know where those bullets are going to come from you don’t know where they’re going to hit. A bullet doesn’t have a name on it.”
Now the apartment resident says she has to find a way to tell her own daughter that her friend was the victim.
“It’s hard especially when it’s a kid,” the woman said. “All you have to do is be strong and let them go through their emotions and be there for them.”
William Bailey has lived in the neighborhood for five years. He says the violence doesn’t seem to end.
“It’s been a problem in the neighborhood, but this is like really really close. Like too close to home,” Bailey said.
Just one year ago, almost to the day, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed just a block away from where this latest deadly scene happened.
“There are no preventative measures whatsoever to deter these types of actions and these types of events and it’s pretty bad because when kids or myself hear these gunshots, we’re numb to it. It’s nothing,” Bailey said.
At this point, Bailey says the only way to solve this violence is for those in power to come here and see it for themselves.
“You need to be here often not just during election season not just when something happens you can’t fix something if you don’t understand,” Bailey said. “If you’re really not here to see it for your self then you really don’t know what to fix.”
Anyone with information about this death investigation is asked to call Major Crimes Detective A. Coates (804) 646-0729 or contact Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.
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