RICHMOND, Va. -- Lucille Brown Middle School students were put on a short lockdown Wednesday afternoon while police responded to a shooting at a Dollar Tree across the street.
"Usually when police walk in, I know it's something going on," said Tolisa Carmen, who works at the South Richmond Shopping Center, where gunshots rang out Wednesday.
Carmen says she didn't hear the shots, but knew something serious was happening when she saw the police activity.
"I saw yellow tape outside and a bunch of police. It was very alarming."
Sources tell CBS 6 that a man was shot in the leg in the shopping center's parking lot.
Richmond Police spent about two hours looking for evidence, going door-to-door with businesses in hopes of finding surveillance footage of the shooting.
"It's crazy, people don't care about life anymore. They don't care. It doesn't make sense," said Fred Dillard.
Dillard says he usually watches sports and tries blocking out scenes like the one Wednesday afternoon.
However, he says he couldn't avoid the shooting, simply because the shopping center is where he buys his groceries.
He laments on how he says society solves problems nowadays - and hopes his family is never caught in the mix.
"Everybody in the city of Richmond needs to pull together. We are all God's children you know. They just gotta stop the violence," Dillard said.
The parking lot where the shooting took place is frequently filled with Lucille Brown students, using the lot to meet with their parents.
Business owners say it's a blessing that children were held on lockdown until the threat was gone.
"It's warming up and when that happens for whatever reason, people start to act crazy. I don't know what's that about but they need to go read books, a magazine or maybe a newspaper or something," Carmen said.
Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.com for in-depth coverage of this important local story. Anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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