RICHMOND, Va. -- Through deep breathes and tears, Andrea Richardson tried to find the strength to talk about her son Timothy. Ultimately, she could not.
"I want my baby back," she said before breaking down.
Her baby, 23-year-old Timothy Richardson, was shot and killed before sunrise on Monday, July 5.
He was riding in a car along Interstate 64 on the Shockoe Valley Bridge when someone fired shots into the car.
"I thought we were supposed to celebrate our independence that day, not to go out and just kill somebody," Timothy's grandmother Bertha Richardson said. "I wish we would just stop hurting one another and killing one another. We need to stop doing that. We're supposed to be together."
Richardson's mother, grandmother, aunt, and cousin remembered the former Armstrong High School student as smart, funny, and everyone's favorite uncle. He was also a father to a nine-month-old girl.
"This has got to stop. We can't do this to one another. When we do stuff like that, we don't realize the impact it's going to leave on the family," Bertha Richardson said. "[His] child right now is nine months. She won't remember her father. We're just taking one another away from one another."
Virginia State Police continue its investigation into Richardson's death.
"The driver of a Kia sedan reported that they were in the left lane when it was shot at by someone in a sedan in the center or right lane. The driver of the Kia was able to exit the interstate and stop in the 500 block of E Broad Street," a Virginia State Police spokesperson wrote in an email about the fatal shooting. "The driver was not struck or injured. There were no other occupants in the Kia."
Anyone with information was asked to call 804-609-5656.
United Communities Against Crime will be holding a prayer vigil for the Richardson family at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Jefferson Park in downtown Richmond.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
