HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- David Rios, the 40-year-old man whose standoff with police shutdown Interstate 95 in downtown Richmond last month, is out of the hospital and in Henrico County Jail.
Rios has been charged with Gun Possession by a Violent Felon, Eluding Police, Resisting Arrest, and Possession of Marijuana, according to online court records.
It was in March, that police said Rios shot himself during a standoff with officers on Interstate 95 in downtown Richmond.
Lynne Gordon, who identified herself as Rios' girlfriend, said was on the phone with Rios around 3:10 p.m. on March 21 when Henrico Police initially approached him on Parham Road for smoking marijuana. Police said Rios sped away from officers.
Gordon said Rios was terrified of going back to prison.
"I don't think he really realized the repercussions of running from the police," Gordon said.
Police said they didn’t pursue Rios on I-95 because they knew who he was and where they could find him.
He eventually crashed near the Belvedere Street exit, crossing several lanes of I-95 traffic, witnesses said.
When Henrico officers found him, they said he had a gun and was threatening to kill himself.
All lanes of the interstate were blocked, on-ramps were blocked, some vehicles were backed off the interstate, and snipers were on rooftops of nearby buildings.
After hours of trying to negotiate with Rios, police deployed several rounds of tactical devices and officers surrounded the vehicle. They said they found Rios suffering from self-inflicted wounds. Crime Insider sources said that Rios shot himself in the chest.
Rios was previously sentenced to 17 years in prison for robbery and malicious wounding in the 90s, according to online court records. He was recently acquitted by a Richmond jury of a 2017 charge of possessing a gun as a violent felon. In 2015, Rios was a person of interest in the murder of his girlfriend Katasha Johnson.
He was held for unrelated assault and battery charges, but never charged with her murder.
He is due in court this July on these most recent charges.
