RICHMOND, Va. -- Giving children the chance to just be children. Christmas came a day early at the Belt Atlantic apartments in Richmond.
Community advocates held a toy giveaway at the complex that has seen deadly gun violence several times in 2021.
On April 27, 2021, gunmen opened fire on a group of people at the complex killing a mother and her child. A 29-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl, and an 11-year-old girl were injured in the shooting.
Earlier this month, Kevon Bynum pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding, and one count of use of a firearm in commission of a murder in connection to the Belt Atlantic shooting.
Court documents showed Bynum and three others, all wearing ski masks, approached the courtyard and "immediately began firing their guns indiscriminately into the crowd." Those documents also stated Bynum and the others had an ongoing disagreement with someone who lived at the apartment complex and drove there that day to confront them. The other accused in the shooting have not yet gone to trial.
CBS 6 photojournalist Janelle Pierangelino captured the joyous Christmas Eve event.
