Two people were killed and seven injured in a shooting at a high school in Virginia, USA, during a graduation ceremony on Tuesday, local officials said.
An 18-year-old student and a 36-year-old man attending the event were identified as two of the dead in the attack, Rick Edwards, deputy police chief of the state capital Richmond, reported at a news conference. press.
Authorities have already arrested a 19-year-old alleged perpetrator of the attack and are seeking two counts of second-degree murder, Edwards added.
Two men, 18 and 36, dead, seven hospitalized in Virginia high school graduation shooting https://t.co/EzLrJr0feT pic.twitter.com/n4jiH6TNHz
—Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) June 7, 2023
Police believe those responsible knew “at least one” of the two fatalities.
Most of the injured, including a 9-year-old girl who was hit by a car, are being treated at a nearby hospital, the interim police chief said.
Several police officers who were on the grounds where the ceremony was being held reported hearing the sound of gunshots around 5:30 p.m.
These police officers called for reinforcements, who then headed to the scene, where they found the wounded.
At the same press conference, Richmond Mayor Lever Stoney offered his condolences to the victims and their families, saying the attack was not only “tragic” but also “for those in attendance as it was during a graduation ceremony. “It was traumatic,” he said.
“What comes to mind is that nothing is sacred anymore,” the mayor said.
There have been 278 reported mass shootings in the country so far this year, with at least four people injured or killed, according to the Gun Violence Archives.
Source: Biobiochile
