Gunman shoots two dead, wounds five others at Virginia high school graduation

June 6 (Reuters) - A man armed with four handguns killed two people and wounded five others when he fired into a crowd outside a high school graduation ceremony in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday, police said.

Police said they arrested one suspect, a 19-year-old man who knew one of the victims and shot at him amid the crowd that had just emerged from the Huguenot High School's commencement ceremony inside a theater on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

The suspect was likely to be charged with two counts of second-degree murder in addition to other offenses, interim Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards told a press conference.

Edwards called the shooter's behavior "disgusting and cowardly," since his dispute appeared to be with just one person.

"When you have a crowd like this, innocent people are going to be caught up in the mayhem, and that's what happened today. " Edwards said. "Obviously, this should have been a safe space...It's just incredibly tragic that someone decided to bring a gun to this incident and rain terror on our community."

[1/3] Law enforcement officers investigate at the scene after a gunman opened fire in a park as high school graduates and their families emerged from a theater where commencement exercises had just concluded, in Richmond, Virginia, U.S. June 6, 2023 in this picture obtained from social media. Clark... Read more

The United States has grown accustomed to mass shootings in public places such as schools, shopping centers and churches.

The mass shooting was the country's 279th in the first 157 days of 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, using the definition of four or more people are shot or killed in a single incident, not including the shooter.

The deceased were men aged 18 and 36, Edwards said. He did not confirm a WWBT television news report that the victims were father and son.

Among the wounded, a 31-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries and four other males aged 14, 32, 55 and 58 were expected to survive, Edwards said.

In addition, a 9-year-old girl was struck by a car in the chaos that ensued, and multiple other people were injured in falls or suffered from anxiety, Edwards said.

The suspect fled the scene on foot and was captured in possession of four handguns, three of which may have been fired, he said, stressing that it was too early in the investigation to be certain.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Thomson Reuters

Daniel Trotta is a U.S. National Affairs correspondent, covering water/fire/drought, race, guns, LGBTQ+ issues and breaking news in America. Previously based in New York, and now in California, Trotta has covered major U.S. news stories such as the killing of Trayvon Martin, the mass shooting of 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and natural disasters including Superstorm Sandy. In 2017 he was awarded the NLGJA award for excellence in transgender coverage. He was previously posted in Cuba, Spain, Mexico and Nicaragua, covering top world stories such as the normalization of Cuban-U.S. relations and the Madrid train bombing by Islamist radicals.