‘This has to stop’:Family identifies 15-year-old girl killed in Gilpin Court shooting

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A 15-year-old Richmond girl was shot and killed Monday evening.

Around 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, police were called to the 900 block of N. 1st Street in the Gilpin Court neighborhood for reports of a shooting.

When officers arrived, they found a teenage girl lying on the sidewalk unresponsive after getting shot. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 9th grader’s grandmother and cousin identified her as Tynashia “Nae” Humphrey.

“It’s taken everything out of me not to cry,” Humphrey’s cousin Ricky Johnson said.

Humphrey’s mourning family does not only want the community to honor her name. They want people to put themselves in her shoes.

“I want them to say ‘I was only going to the store’ because that means so much to our family right now,” Johnson said. “Those words changed our life as she lay on that ground. ‘I was only going to the store; why me?’”

Flowers, balloons and a teddy bear lying in the place where Humphrey took her final breath on her walk to the store Monday night.

“This person has devastated an entire community all because she wanted to go to the store. You have changed our lives forever,” Johnson said.

The 15-year-old is described as an honor roll student who loved her siblings. Family and friends called her “Nae” for short.

“Right now, I can’t do nothing but shed more tears, but I don’t want any harm done to no one else,” Humphrey’s grandmother Karen Cheatham said. “It’s not worth it.”

Her grandmother raised Humphrey as one of her own after her mother lost her battle with cancer a few years ago.

“She’s my world,” she said. “She knew she was my world. She knew she was my princess.”

Johnson runs a non-profit foundation that helps victims of various tragedies. He never imagined his own family would turn into the victims.

“The same way I can speak for others, I have got to stand here and speak for my own, and it hurts, but every tear that we cry, every tear that I shed is in hope that somebody else can have life,” Johnson said.

The family urges the people responsible for her death to come forward.

“I can’t sit here and honestly say I forgive because you’ve taken a part of me with you, but what I can say is you can make the difference by turning yourself in,” Johnson said.

Mayor Levar Stoney released the following statement after learning of the shooting:

“Tonight, we lost a 15-year-old who was simply walking to the store with friends. This has to stop. Too many families are losing loved ones to senseless violence. We will not tolerate gun violence in our city. We will not tolerate those who would perpetrate this kind of violence on any of our residents.”

An RPD spokesperson confirmed that Humphrey was caught in the crossfire when shot.

Richmond School Board Chair Dr. Shonda Harris-Muhammed released the following statement:

“It is with a heavy heart to share that RPS has lost another student to gun violence. She was a 9th grader at Armstrong High School. We will have our crisis support team on hand at AHS today. Keep the AHS family in your prayers!”

The Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of death.

Anyone with any information about this shooting can call Major Crimes Detective P. Ripley at 804-646-0423 or Crime Stoppers at 804-748-1000.

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