RICHMOND, Va. -- Kids in Richmond's Creighton Court were riding their bikes and residents were hanging out with family and friends on the Fourth of July, a day after neighbors suffered through a double shooting.
"You shoot two people down and then you run off -- and you're still out there somewhere. Probably out here somewhere,” Creighton Court Tenant Council President Marilyn Olds told CBS 6 News reporter Sandra Jones.
Police said a man and woman were rushed to the hospital after being shot. Neighbors said that the female victim was not the intended target, but an innocent bystander on her way to meet her children.
“You breathe your environment," Olds said. "And if they see this all their life it will be the norm. It will be the norm. This is what we do."
Olds, who is a mainstay in the East End community, said if neighbors have a problem, they come to her.
Olds said the norm for many people living here in Creighton court is to see some thing and say nothing. But she says that needs to change in order for the violence to stop.
"The residents have to take the responsibility about what happened on our property. This is where we live,” she said.
Olds and other tenant council presidents are working with police to form neighborhood watch groups in the city's public housing complexes to fight crime.
"If the mothers feel threatened by whoever, they might talk too. It's anonymous phone calls... where you can get information to people or whatever,” said Olds. “And it's not snitching. It's saving your life -- and your home.”
Olds told CBS 6 that the group will meet at Richmond’s Police Academy on Tuesday to take part in a number of workshops and training. Then, they will inform residents on how they can get involved in their Neighborhood Watch.
Police said the victims in Thursday’s shooting are still recovering in the hospital.
Detectives, who are still searching for the gunman, said their investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
If you have information that could help investigators, call Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
