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Women shot in car on I-95 had been celebrating graduation

Posted at 11:03 PM, May 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-15 10:31:52-04

RICHMOND, Va. -- Crime Insider sources said a group had been out celebrating graduation before three people were shot, two fatally, inside the car they were traveling in along Interstate 95 in Richmond early Sunday morning.

Virginia State Police said the shooting happened around 3:40 a.m. in the interstate's northbound lanes near mile marker 75

A Nissan was going north on I-95 when police said a white four-door sedan pulled up next to the driver’s side and fired multiple shots at the car.

There were seven people in the Nissan.

The driver, 23-year-old Tanna Gardner of Richmond, died at the scene.

Crime Insider sources said she had just graduated and was out celebrating.

One of the passengers, 26-year-old Sharayne Holland from Manassas, was taken to VCU Medical Center where she later died.

Friends said she had two young kids.

A male passenger was taken to the hospital with life threatening injuries.

Crime Insider sources said investigators were looking into a fight at a downtown club that broke out about 20 minutes before the shooting.

Police have not confirmed those details, but state police officials called the shooting was a “targeted incident.”

The news was disheartening for Tracy Williams, who was helping her daughter, a rising Virginia Union University senior, move out for the summer.

"The last thing I'd want to hear anytime as a mother is that something happened to your child. And for that to be right on top of Mother's Day," Williams said. "I'm just beside myself."

Williams, who is expecting her third child, said the shooting that claimed the lives of two young women hits close to home.

"If we started looking out for each other a little bit better,” Williams. “And on what's supposed to be such a special day for mothers. Everybody needs to know that the person in front of you and beside you, that's somebody's child, too, or that's somebody's mother, too."

State police want witnesses to call 804-553-3445 or #77 on a cell phone.

Additionally, witnesses can send news tips and other information here.

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