RICHMOND, Va. -- Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R - Virginia) was in a meeting Thursday night when she was informed about a shooting in the City of Richmond.
"It was during the meeting that we heard somebody had gotten shot. And then we heard about two more. And then we heard about two more," Earle-Sears said. "And then we said let's go. I said I want to go see for myself."
The state leader drove to the shooting scene at Milton Street and Maryland Avenue in Richmond's Northside. It was one of four shootings reported in Richmond on Thursday, September 15, three of which resulted in someone being shot.
"I want the people to understand that at the very highest levels we care," she said. "We're going to try to figure it out because we have to. Our babies are dying."
The evening's first shooting in Richmond was reported at about 7 p.m.
A man with a gunshot wound saw police working an accident in the MLK Jr Preschool Learning Center parking lot on Mosby Street and asked officers for help. Police said the shooting did not happen in the school lot. Additional details about that shooting have not yet been released.
Richmond Police later responded to Belle Isle on the James River for a shooting at about 8:15 p.m.
There, a 19-year-old man was shot in the ribs following an argument with someone, Crime Insider sources told Jon Burkett.
"He's in stable condition. The bullet went right in and out," the Belle Isle shooting victim's mom told Burkett. "He's alive, he's breathing, and I'm grateful for that."
Crime Insider sources said police had a person of interest in the Belle Isle shooting.
About a half hour after the Belle Isle shooting, police were called to investigate the shooting on Milton Street and Maryland Avenue. There a man was shot in the stomach. Additional details surrounding the shooting have not yet been disclosed.
"It really starts at the top. It starts with your elected officials. That's all there is to it. I figured I'm Lieutenant Governor, there's got to be something that I can do to help make the change," Earle-Sears said about her decision to visit the Milton Street crime scene. "We came without any police protection or anything. But if the people I represent aren't safe, then why should I be safe?"
No one was shot in the fourth reported shooting of the evening, however, someone fired a weapon into an apartment at The Belt Atlantic apartments on Midlothian Turnpike.
Of the four shootings, three people were shot. Two of the shooting victims suffered injuries that were considered to be life-threatening.
There have been 36 gun-related homicides in Richmond so far in 2022, compared to 45 at this time last year, according to Richmond Police crime statistics. Those same statistics show 232 gun-related aggravated assaults so far in 2022, compared to 199 at the same point in 2021.
Earle-Sears said the government can make a difference when it comes to curb violence in Richmond.
"You see what the governor is trying to do in Petersburg. Republican governor, Democratic mayor and city council and they're coming together for the good of the people that they represent," she said. "We can do that in Richmond, if certain people want it to happen and I'm talking about in government."
She called recent efforts to fight gun violence in Richmond ineffective.
"When you talk to the people who are being directly affected by the gun violence, they say that this gun buyback program is a sham. They just use it to upgrade," Earle-Sears said. "They are not turning in any guns that are used in shootings. No! If they are having how many of all those guns that were bought back they say to me, did we find was used to commit a crime?"
Anyone with information about the shootings was asked to call Richmond Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
