RICHMOND, Va. -- Police said a 15-year-old boy was killed in a triple shooting in one of Richmond’s notorious public housing neighborhoods early Sunday morning.
A day after three boys were shot in the 1400 block of Coalter Street, messages of love and loss can be seen along a Richmond home, just yards from bullet holes.
A teen, who does not want to be identified, relived the terror outside her home that is now a crime scene.
"When I saw the bullets flying I just panicked; I was running I wasn't thinking about nothing else," said the 16-year-old girl.
Witnesses say a car driven by a female pulled up to a stop sign at the corner of Coalter and Redd streets when four men got out of the vehicle and just started shooting.
"My friend got shot in his back,” said the 16-year-old girl. “He ran up the stairs and said he got shot and then he flipped right back down my stairs he was laying right there.”
Her best friend, Zyemonte Redd, of the 4300 block of Hill Brook Road in Henrico, never got back up Sunday morning. Redd had just celebrated his 15th birthday four days before.
Her 16-year-old boyfriend is hospitalized, along with another victim, with non-life threatening injuries.
"To have a murder at the front door of one of the families that we are working with it's a tremendous setback," said community activist, Art Burton.
Burton, walks the east end streets daily to empower youth and bring change to this Mosby Court community.
On this day, the activist brings flowers for one of his "kids"-- as he calls them -- who was lucky to survive the very violence he is trying to prevent.
"I'm thankful that he is alive," said Burton. "I am thankful that he has the opportunity to do something different and hopefully this will be a wake up call for him and this entire community."
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
