RICHMOND, Va. -- Leaders in all aspects of Richmond City government are speaking out following a recent string of violence against youth. The latest incident involved a 14-year-old who was shot while riding a bike in South Richmond Monday night, according to Crime Insider Sources.
Police said the shooting happened in the 4100 block of Kinsley Avenue near James Food Store. Crime Insider Sources said the teen is in stable but critical condition and two other young people were with the 14-year-old as he was gunned down.
"The biggest heartbreak for me was seeing those three bicycles out in the middle of the road," said 9th District Councilman Mike Jones, who showed up at the crime scene Monday. "What bothers me is these weren't thugs. These aren't bad kids, right? Because that's typically how we try to deal with and rationalize."
This is the second time in just four days that Jones has appeared at a crime scene involving a teenager.
On Friday morning, police said a 17-year-old Richmond Public Schools (RPS) student was shot and injured while walking to a bus stop on McDowell Road in South Richmond.
"This is my second teenager in four days -- not four weeks, not four months. Four days, my second teenager," Jones said. "What are we going to do to help these young people?"
Alarming statistics from Richmond Police showed at least 19 children under the age of 18 have been shot so far this year with three months still remaining. Three of those teenagers have died and all were RPS students.
In 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year, 20 total children under the age of 18 were shot. In 2020, the number increased to 33. In 2021, 32 young people were shot.
8th District Councilor and Chair of the Public Safety Committee Reva Trammell said she believes vacancies within the Richmond Police Department (RPD) are preventing officers from patrolling neighborhoods and fighting crime.
“Since June 2020, what has happened to our city? So many people call me every day. I just got a couple calls earlier. Reva, we got crime over here. Reva, where are our police officers? We don't have them. Our police officers are gone," Trammell said.
Police Chief Gerald Smith said during a September meeting that RPD was down about 150 officers out of 755 total positions.
"We do have some staffing issues. If we were fully staffed, we could actually do a lot more all over the city. We are not neglecting the city at all or any part of the city, but we need to stop the bleeding, we need to stop the shooting, and that's where we go," Smith said in September.
Trammell said she agreed with Virginia's Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears who showed up at the scene of a shooting in Richmond last month and blamed city leadership for what Sears considered ineffective violence prevention policies.
"She was at the crime scene, and she blamed City Council and the mayor. She blamed us. She was right," Trammell said. "Things are changing for the worse. Why aren't they getting better? Where's the police chief? Where is he? He said he's going to be more visible, he's going to be more out in the community."
Chief Smith embarked on four community engagement sessions with the public throughout the month of September and most recently announced a "Coffee with a Cop" event planned for Wednesday in an effort to meet members of the community.
Smith said he was not available for an interview with CBS 6 Tuesday but provided a statement.
“As a father, the worst call I can imagine anyone receiving is one concerning the safety of one’s child – or the life of one’s child. Parents and children should not have to worry about being impacted by violence in our city. No one should have to worry about violence. Gun violence in our community, and particularly against our youth - has to stop," Smith said.
He also tasked the public with helping the police department solve crimes and prevent violence from happening.
"We need you to partner with us in this fight. We also need you to know that we won’t stop until the violence stops. We will keep trying new approaches. We will keep engaging the community. We will keep mentoring and working directly with our youth. Our officers, my officers, your officers will keep giving tirelessly and selflessly to make a difference, as will I. Can we count on you to join us in this fight? If you see something, please say something," Smith said.
He plans to address the issue further during a Wednesday press conference on quarterly crime statistics.
Meanwhile, Councilman Jones also took aim at the Richmond School Board after Monday night's shooting.
“What is the school board doing? The administration and the school board -- they’ve got to come together and fix this," Jones said.
Jones said he went to the hospital on Monday night to check on the victim and his family. At the time, the school board was gathered for its regularly scheduled meeting.
“11 o'clock, a kid is dealing with getting shot, and the school board’s in a meeting until midnight. The hell are they meeting about? No curriculum, no HR issue, nothing in a closed session that will get at young Black kids getting shot," Jones said.
In response, RPS Board Chair Dr. Shonda Harris-Muhammed said, "The Richmond City School Board and [Superintendent Jason Kamras] cannot directly control the external factors that occur outside of our institutions of learning."
She added the governance team is focused on providing support to students that allows them to succeed including:
- Providing a place where they can learn and grow
- Improving trauma-informed education and care
- Building relationships with parents and guardians
"What the City of Richmond is facing cannot be addressed by one entity. It will take many committed entities to focus on what is driving the behaviors of violence in our students and young adults. Taking care of students does not solely sit with any school division. The teachers, administrators, our office associates, our bus drivers, our coaches, and lunch monitors are all contributing to the uplifting of our students in Richmond Public Schools," Harris-Muhammed said.
The Chairwoman added the board will review offering and structuring parental courses, encouraging the role of parenting in the community, and supporting mental health resources in schools.
"The community, local government, and state government must work together to foster healthier communities," she said.
Mayor Levar Stoney provided the following statement Tuesday:
Our children deserve to live in safe communities which allow them to simply be kids, and the recent trail of gun violence in and around our city impacting our youth, as well as our adult residents, is flat out unacceptable. To whomever did this: we will find you and you will be held accountable. We will not waver in our efforts to use all available resources to reduce gun violence, remaining tough on crime and tough on the root causes of crime. And I ask every Richmond resident, young and old, to share in the responsibility we all have to keep our community safe. If you see something, say something.
