RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) --Police are still trying to piece together what happened less than 24 hours afteran 18-year-old was shot and killed in the Rite Aid parking lot at Belvidere and Broad Street in Richmond.
A tattered piece of police tape was the only sign Friday afternoon that something terrible happened in a busy Rite Aid parking lot.
A day after Marquis Richardson was shot dead in a car police are charging 28-year-old Quntin Washington with the crime.
"The call came in at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and we had officers there in minutes," said Gene Lepley, a Richmond Police Department spokesman. "There was not a gunfight there was not an exchange of gunfire there was one weapon that was used by Washington to shoot Richardson."
Investigators said the suspect and victim knew each other and were arguing before the crack of gunshots filled the air.
Witnesses said a young boy about five years old saw the crime unfold. Richmond police and DSS are not commenting.
The city's 26th murder happened just a block from VCU's Monroe Park Campus.
"I didn't hear it at all, but I'm not surprised. I live just one block away from this murder and I didn't even hear it," said VCU student Matthew Winkel.
Winkel, who lives next door in off campus housing, said the shooting is paricularly unnerving because he takes the school shuttle at night to make it home safely.
"It's pretty bad when I don't feel safe walking for blocks home," Winkel said.
Others said that while the murder is worrisome, they realize crime is a part of the urban experience.
"Murders happen everywhere. You just never know,' said Allison Cribbs, a VCU freshman.
At the Quirk Gallery on Broad, across the street from the crime scene, Michael-Birch Pierce hopes this isolated incident does not deter people from attending First Fridays Art Walk.
"I think it is a little disconcerting, but stuff like that can happen all over Richmond," said Pierce. "I think honestly after something like that happened last night there will be even bigger police presence keeping us safe so no one has anything to worry about."
Washington is being held at the Richmond City Jail. He was charged with voluntary manslaughter and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
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