Seven people were injured in a shooting on Tuesday after gunfire rang out near Virginia Commonwealth University following a high school graduation ceremony, police and school district officials said.
Two suspects were taken into custody after the incident in downtown Richmond, Interim Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said at a press conference.
Mr Edwards said officers inside a theatre where the graduation was taking place heard the gunfire, went outside and saw multiple victims with gunshot wounds.
Three people sustained critical injuries and four had injuries that were not life-threatening, he said.
Police did not believe there was any ongoing threat to the community.
“We’re going to do everything we can to bring the individuals involved in this to justice,” Mayor Levar Stoney said at the news conference. “This should not be happening anywhere.”
Richmond Public Schools said in a message on its website that the shooting took place in Monroe Park, which is near the college campus, after a graduation ceremony for Huguenot High School.
VCU advised the community in an online alert around 5.30pm local time that police were responding after shots were fired. State police sent an alert warning people to avoid the area.
The school district said a different graduation scheduled for later on Tuesday had been cancelled “out of an abundance of caution” and that schools would be closed on Wednesday.