RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia State Police are seeing a trend of shootings on highways in the Richmond metro area, but they can't pinpoint an exact reason why that is.
Virginia State Police's past system doesn’t allow them to separate a drive-by shooting that happened on an interstate or off the highway, so the numbers they provided show both.
Officials have responded to a total of 13 drive-by shootings so far this year. There were 18 drive by shootings last year.
The department has a new system for tracking these trends, so they said moving forward it will be easier to compare years.
Those numbers cover a dozen or so localities — everywhere from Richmond to Powhatan to Prince George.
“They're all different," said State Police Sgt. Jessica Shehan. "It’s hard to touch on each on as a blanket."
She said that’s why they can’t say what's causing this trend. The cases can be anything from suicide, domestic violence or gang violence.
“There is no need to be afraid because each one is an individual case," said Shehan.
But officials are calling on drivers to not further perpetuate a problem.
“If someone reacts and they are already in a bad headspace, it’s just going to amplify that situation. That’s why we ask people to not engage," said Shehan.
They also encourage drivers to drive defensively, back off, don’t tailgate and dial #77 to report what you’re seeing.
