RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith continued to stand by his original statement that he could not review talking points ahead of his press conference on an alleged mass shooting plot because they were sent to him seven minutes ahead of the briefing.
That's despite newly released communication records revealing Smith received an email with talking points 47 minutes prior.
On July 6, Smith announced to local and national press that officers stopped a mass shooting planned for Dogwood Dell's Independence Day celebration where thousands of people were gathered. He said officers were able to thwart the potential attack thanks to a tipster who came forward with information that Smith's chief of staff described as "vague" in a text sent the day after the tip was received.
Smith has faced scrutiny for naming Dogwood Dell as the target of a mass shooting even though prosecutors admitted in court to having no evidence of a location.
His own talking points for the press conference also stated in bold letters, "the location was unknown." However, Smith said he never had time to look them over.
When emails detailing his talking points were made public to local media outlets through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in August, they showed RPD's Public Information Officer Tracy Walker sent them to other officers and the FBI earlier in the day on July 6. But Walker did not send them to Chief Smith until 1:53 p.m., seven minutes before the 2:00 p.m. press conference.
At the time that FOIA was released, Smith responded to an inquiry from the Richmond Times-Dispatch asking about the email Walker sent seven minutes before the press conference.
“As I stated in interviews last week, I never reviewed these talking points. As you state, they were sent to me seven minutes before the press conference. I did not have the opportunity to review or approve them prior to the press conference," Smith said.
However, in a FOIA request submitted by CBS 6 that was fulfilled on September 13, records showed Deputy Chief Victoria Pearson forwarded an email she received from Walker with talking points to Smith at 1:13 p.m. That means Smith received talking points 47 minutes before the news conference.
When asked for an explanation why Smith claimed to have received talking points only seven minutes in advance, he said he truthfully and accurately answered RTD's question because he really did receive talking points from Walker seven minutes prior.
Smith added that the email Pearson forwarded to him did not include the official talking points:
"At the time Ms. Walker sent that email to Ms. Pearson, Ms. Pearson had called to inquire when the talking points would be completed since we were approaching the time of the news conference and they had not been received nor reviewed. At that time Ms. Walker stated the talking points were not yet ready and she was still working on them but could send the draft in the meantime. It was never my understanding that the earlier email from Ms. Pearson was the final or completed version of talking points based on those discussions. Moreover, my understanding was that the talking points would be forthcoming from our Public Affairs Director, Ms. Tracy Walker directly to me. As stated correctly in your question above, the actual/completed talking points were sent to me 7 minutes before the press conference by Ms. Walker/head of police public affairs. And as I previously responded, I did not have the opportunity to review or approve them prior to the press conference."
There were only a few minor differences between the emails Smith received from Pearson and Walker.
Both talking points were nearly identical, boldly stating that the location was unknown, that the tip didn't include specific intended targets, and that no information became clear even after debriefs.
CBS 6 asked if Smith was ever verbally briefed on the talking points before the press conference and why it wasn't delayed until Smith could review them.
We are still waiting for a response.
You can read through an in-depth timeline of communication records among police leaders as they investigated the tip and planned the press conference here.
