RICHMOND, Va. -- A teenager is dead after a shooting on Richmond's Northside on Monday night, according to Crime Insider sources.
The shooting happened on the outskirts of Gilpin Court at North First and Federal Street. Richmond Police said it happened before 7:30 p.m. on Monday.
Crime Insider sources told Jon Burkett that a drive-by shooting happened and a 15-year-old girl fell victim to the gunshots.
At the scene of the shooting, sources said the shooting may have happened when the girl was leaving a nearby corner store.
"I'm gonna plead to the community right now that if you know something right now you need to call us and let us know about this shooting. About the groups that could've been shooting at each other and took this child's life right here in the middle of the street. This is an outrage, there is no other way to describe this but it is an outrage that the entire community needs to be up in arms about," Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith said.
"Tonight we lost a 15-year-old who was simply walking to the store with friends. This has to stop. Too many families are losing loved ones to senseless violence. We will not tolerate gun violence in our city. We will not tolerate those who would perpetrate this kind of violence on any of our residents," Mayor Levar Stoney said.
This is the second 15-year-old shot in the Gilpin Court area in five days.
CBS 6 saw Richmond Superintendent Jason Kamras walk inside Armstrong High School early Tuesday morning, but we have not heard back from the district as to how they are handling the death of this teen student and if there are any resources available to other students.
"We're losing them every day, and it's not even the older people," explained Sylaine Cook, who has a daughter at Armstrong. "Now it's the young kids. That's the sad part about it.”
Cook said one of her co-workers rushed to the scene just minutes after hearing the news of the murder because her daughter was walking with the teen who was killed.
"It's really sad when you have a child that age, you know what I'm saying, to know that they're walking to the store, something that your child does on a regular basis, and they can get shot," noted. Cook.
Richmond City Councilwoman Ann-Frances Lambert was also at the scene Monday night. She owns property right across the street from where the shooting took place. She is also calling on the community to stop the crime and help police.
"It’s a huge drug problem going on, there's prostitution, and let’s not talk about mental health," Lambert noted. "It doesn’t stop, but at the end of the day, we got to keep each other in prayer. We got to support each other, look out for our neighbors, and we've got to work together with police."
While the work to get guns off the streets and find this teen’s killer continues, this community is hurting. They're also worried it could be their child next who doesn’t make it home.
"Like they are supposed to be living, going to school, getting ready for college, just living their life, and they got to worry about dying," said Cook. "It's really sad."
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
