RICHMOND, Va. — Denise Wilson remembered the start of June 6, 2023 as a beautiful spring day with warm, sunny weather setting the stage for an evening full of celebrating.
She had just flown into Richmond from Florida to watch her granddaughter graduate from Huguenot High School, a big accomplishment after struggling through the pandemic and mental health challenges.
"Even in her struggle, she was able to graduate with honors, and that was, for us, just the biggest blessing that she actually did it," Wilson said.
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The family snagged the perfect seats inside the Altria Theater, where the commencement ceremony was held, close enough for their student to walk right past them as she received her diploma.
“So that right there was just so great. We were happy. We were just extremely, extremely happy," Wilson said.
Those feelings of joy would soon turn into panic and fear.
Just five minutes after walking outside the theater into Monroe Park, Wilson said a fight broke out between two young men who she believes were Shawn Jackson and Amari Pollard.
Seconds after the fight, "We heard the gunshots," Wilson recalled.
People started running, screaming, and Wilson saw a man fall to the ground. She dropped too.
“And I'm on the ground laying next to him, and I'm looking at him and he's bleeding. I'm seeing blood on the ground. And then I look up, I don't get up, but I look up. And I see this young man in front of me with the gun, say maybe 10 feet from me, if that far, maybe not quite that far. And now I don't know what to do, because I don't know what his intentions are. I don't know if his intentions are just shooting people randomly or if he had a target.”
Thinking she could die, Wilson did what she could to try and get away.
"I started rolling, and I just rolled into the street. And I kept rolling and rolling and rolling. That's how I got injured," Wilson said.
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Shortly after she stood up, glasses broken and knees scraped, Wilson heard another round of gunshots and retreated back into the theater. She was able to reunite with her family, who thankfully were physically unharmed.
“We're all just wondering, What's going on? We're in a mass shooting. Why are we in a mass shooting at a graduation?” Wilson said.
Her granddaughter told her that she actually saw the gunman right after the shots rang out.
"[He] ran past her across the park and dropped the gun and said 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,'" Wilson said.
In total, seven people were shot. Two of them died, Huguenot graduate Shawn Jackson and his stepfather Renzo Smith. At least a dozen others were injured in the chaos of the aftermath.
Amari Pollard, 19, was charged with murder in Jackson's death.
According to Richmond Police, Pollard and Jackson knew each other. Police detailed in court records that the shooting was carried out over an "ongoing feud that Shawn Jackson had with several individuals" which was tied to another shooting that happened in 2020 in which someone was killed by "associates of Jackson."
But there are still gaps in the information that's been released in the criminal investigation. No one has been charged in connection to the six other victims who were shot.
And while there were four guns recovered from the crime scene that day, police have declined to answer to whom two of those guns belonged. Police said one gun belonged to Pollard and another firearm belonged to someone who was not involved in the incident.
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A third-party investigation into Richmond Public Schools' handling of the circumstances leading up to the shooting found that school staff allowed Jackson to attend the graduation without "any consideration of safety concerns" and against the required authorizations.
The Richmond School Board initially fought to keep the findings of the investigation private, but a judge forced the release of the report after CBS 6, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and activist Josh Stanfield sued the board for violating the Freedom of Information Act.
"They had no reason, no right to try to keep it amongst themselves. We have a right to know," Wilson said. "We're traumatized for life, from that, for life. So why would they want to keep that a secret? It's not fair to us."
Jackson was a homebound student, meaning he was not physically permitted in school buildings or at school sponsored events, per the district's homebound procedures. Part of the reason he was homebound was due to "threats of neighborhood violence."
The investigation report, which was done by the law firm Sands Anderson, found that numerous Huguenot High School staff, including Jackson's counselor and principal had knowledge about security issues surrounding Jackson.
Jackson's mother told staff about them on multiple occasions. At one point, she alerted them that Huguenot students had "shot up" their home, Another time, she told them that students "literally tried to kill him."
A week before the June 6 graduation, Jackson's mother asked his counselor if he should attend a graduation rehearsal or if he would be "squeezed in" the day of the graduation. The counselor said she would "squeeze him in" the day of after acknowledging that his presence at the rehearsal could be "dangerous."
Investigators found that no one with knowledge of safety risks completed a threat assessment or escalated critical intelligence to security personnel.
“They are very responsible, very responsible. Because they are the ones who knew. They knew. They knew," Wilson said.
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When CBS 6 asked School Board Chair Stephanie Rizzi whether she believed the shooting could have been prevented, she said, "most of the people I talk with say that if someone has been determined to do something like this, they will most likely find a way. What I can tell you is that on the RPS side, we will work as hard as we can to tighten protocols, to look at our policies and to look at what happens on the ground, to make sure that we do everything we can to prevent something like this."
But Wilson said she blames Richmond Public Schools for putting her family, and all other attendees at risk.
She said sometimes, she still has nightmares from that tragic day even after multiple sessions of therapy and counseling. But she feels even worse for those who lost loved ones and the graduates whose special day will forever be marked by devastation.
"I want them to be accountable for what they did. I want them to compensate all of us for the harm they put us through," Wilson said. “I want them to know that what they did to us, they ruined us. They actually ruined— they ruined us. They ruin how we see things, how we see the world now.”
CBS 6 has asked multiple times for an interview with Superintendent Jason Kamras to discuss the third-party report. He has declined.
Richmond Police maintain the "truth" about the criminal case will come out once Pollard's trial begins in late February.
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