News

Actions

September was Richmond’s deadliest month in years

Posted at 6:25 AM, Oct 01, 2012
and last updated 2012-10-01 13:16:34-04

RICHMOND, Va (WTVR) -- The Richmond Police Department is investigating a fatal shooting that happened Sunday night in the Oak Grove neighborhood.  Police said they received the call around 11:27 p.m.  When they arrived on the scene they said they found a person shot inside a home in the 2400 block of Ingram Avenue. 

The male victim is described as being in his late 40s or early 50s with a gunshot wound. Reportedly in September, there were 11 homicides recorded by police making it the deadliest month in the Richmond Metro area in more than five years.

A few hours before the Oak Grove shooting, and less than a mile away detectives were investigating another homicide.  Early Sunday morning there was a homicide on the city's Southside--in the Hillside Court community just after 4:00 a.m.  Investigators said Andre Lee Seward, 37, died at VCU Medical Center after he was found suffering from a gunshot wound outside an apartment on Lone Street.  According to recent reports, Seward's death marks the 34th Hillside Court homicide in 2011.

Billy Ward, a Hillside Court resident said the violence he and his neighbors witness and wake up to, has unfortunately become nearly an "everyday occurrence."

"Hillside has become a killing ground, so you know most people expect to wake up to something bad happening and nothing good happening," said Ward.  "The neighborhood needs something good to happen and something good for the young people to do."

"These children they just need to learn out to respect each other," said Oak Grove resident Tony Barcroft.  "Find a better way of solving their problems, then going out and grabbing a gun."

Barcroft is all too familiar with the effects of violence, after his son LaMarco Brown, 24, was shot and killed in Hillside Court last year.

"Friday was the year anniversary of my son being killed," said Barcroft.

Trevon Allen has lived on the Southside his entire life.  He said others who call the area home are used to the sights and sounds of violence.

"You are going to hear gunshots," recalled Allen.  "I was coming back from the library and I saw like 10 police units with a dead body on the ground."

In addition to the Oak Grove and Hillside Court homicides, a third man was gunned down in the Church Hill area on Saturday.  Someone has been arrested for that shooting.

If you have any information on any of the cases, you can call Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.