Four RPS students shot Friday night; one dead

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Four Richmond Public Schools students were shot in less than an hour Friday night. Richmond Police say the first shooting happened in the 1600 block of Stockton Street just before 10 p.m., where a juvenile male was pronounced dead at the scene.

School and city officials later confirmed that the juvenile was a 13-year-old, 7th-grade student at Binford Middle School.

About 40 minutes after officers responded to the incident on Stockton Street, police arrived at Halifax Avenue for a separate shooting involving three juveniles. One was shot, and two were grazed with bullets. All three have non-life-threatening injuries.

RPS says two students go to the Richmond Alternative School, and one attends Armstrong High School.

“It really demonstrates how really bad things are,” said Richmond School Board member Jonathan Young.

In an online letter, the school system let families know how students can receive mental health resources to help deal with processing the tragedies.

“We’ve got to put a pause on reading, writing and arithmetic and instead address what matters most and that’s our student welfare,” Young said.

The shooting has called the attention of Mayor Stoney, who released a statement saying in part: “As I have said before, we have too many damn guns in our community. Guns that are too easily accessible by our children and result in tragedies.”

Other community leaders are pushing for gun safety after Friday’s shootings.

Cruz Sherman with Virginians in Action reminds gun owners about resources available through the police department, including free gun locks and the Gun 250 program. A program that gives people a chance to earn money for information that leads to the arrest of a person who has a gun illegally.

”We have to take the first step in being proactive and being responsible gun owners and then the next thing we have to do is we have to start talking about the value of life, humanity,” Sherman stated.

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