RICHMOND, Va. — Police have identified the two people killed in Saturday's mass shooting in Shockoe Bottom as 23-year-old Genesis Jones, of Petersburg, and 42-year-old Dominic Jackson, of Henrico, as investigators recovered over 50 shell casings from what started as a fistfight.
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards revealed the extensive evidence recovery during a noon news conference, saying "over 50 cartridge cases were recovered, multiple firearms" and six cars were towed from the scene.
The shooting occurred at 2:47 a.m. in the 000 block of North 18th Street when nine people were shot and two were killed after a physical altercation escalated when people pulled out guns.
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PHOTOS: 9 shot, 2 killed, in Richmond mass shooting
Richmond Mayor Danny Avula called the shooting "absolutely unacceptable" and said the city will accelerate gun violence prevention efforts.
"What started as fist fighting, and there were members who came in and tried to break that up, but quickly escalated as people pulled out guns," Avula said during the news conference.
Edwards said an officer was in the area and noticed a commotion in the middle of the block. When she exited her car, she found one adult female deceased at the scene.
"Other officers arrived very quickly. As 911 calls started rolling in, so she was present before the first 911 call a minute later, was the first time a Richmond ambulance arrived on scene, along with Richmond Fire," Edwards said.
Seven other individuals were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Edwards said one male is in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, while the other six suffered non-life-threatening injuries. All victims were adults ranging in age from 23 to 42.
"Officers immediately began rendering aid, so applying multiple tourniquets, providing pressure to wounds and getting some of the victims to a higher level of care," Edwards said.
Investigation reveals possible earlier interaction
Edwards said all bars in the area were closed when the shooting occurred.
"I can confirm that this did not originate in a club, and all the bars were closed at 2 a.m. This was people hanging out on the streets. Two groups of individuals started fighting," Edwards said.
However, police are investigating whether the groups may have encountered each other earlier in the evening.
"The videos that I've seen seem to show people starting a verbal argument, then physical fight, and then, very quickly, guns are brought out," Edwards said.
Police recovered two firearms from the scene but believe there are more. The ATF is assisting with ballistic analysis to help speed up the investigation process.
"There were multiple individuals shooting. That's what I'm prepared to say at this time," Edwards said, declining to provide a specific number of suspects.
Mayor calls shooting 'absolutely unacceptable'
Avula called the shooting "absolutely heartbreaking" for the victims' families and unacceptable for the community.
"Let me also say that this is absolutely unacceptable. This is not how people want to live. It's not what our city is about, it is not what we, the residents of our city, deserve," Avula said.
The mayor said the incident highlights the urgent need for the city's Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which was established this past year.
"The work that that group has been doing to collate funding, develop strategies that we are planning to launch," Avula said. "We will accelerate the timeline in which we get them out."
The mayor said the office is developing interventions, including community workers who would be present as bars close to help people get home safely, rather than loitering in the streets.
Community ambassador program planned
Avula provided details about planned prevention strategies, including a community ambassador program.
"[They] would not only do engagement of the businesses here, but that would actually be on the ground after midnight during weekend nights," Avula said.
These ambassadors would help clear the streets as establishments close.
"As clubs are closing down, [ambassadors] would actually shepherd people home, and so that's part of the strategy that we're working on, pulling funding together for hiring and training up folks for that," Avula said.
The mayor acknowledged challenges in creating gun-free zones due to Virginia state laws, though the city has already established such zones in city-owned properties like parks.
Richmond's gun problem in perspective
Edwards provided stark statistics about the prevalence of firearms in Richmond, comparing the city's gun seizures to much larger police departments.
"One of the reasons, I think we've seen success from 2021, which was a high for murder, we had 90 murders in 2021. Since then, for the last three years, we've averaged over 1,800 gun seizures per year," Edwards said.
"Just to put that in perspective, the entire New York City Police Department, which is orders of magnitude larger than us, had maybe 5,300," Edwards said. "So we seized about a third of the same guns as the New York City Police Department, and it just shows you the omnipresence of firearms in our city."
The chief noted that over 400 guns were stolen out of cars last year, with the majority of those thefts occurring in the Shockoe Bottom and Shockoe Slip.
"The sheer amount of guns that are on the streets of our city is shocking," Edwards said.
Edwards had a direct message for people visiting the entertainment district.
"My message would be, leave your guns at home. You can't make good decisions, and you can't have a normal fight if you're armed, if everyone is armed, because it ends in tragedies like what we saw this morning," Edwards said.
Police seek community video evidence
Edwards said detectives, along with the real-time crime center, have been working to analyze video surveillance and talk with witnesses since the early morning hours.
"A lot of forensic material was recovered here," Edwards said, describing one of the largest crime scenes the department has processed.
The chief made a specific appeal for video evidence from the community, particularly from people who may have filmed the initial fight.
"We've seen the surveillance footage. We've seen people were filming the fight ahead of time, so we need those individuals who left the scene to provide that to our investigators," Edwards said.
Edwards said there is no continued threat to the public.
"We believe this was individuals engaged in a fight," Edwards said. "Multiple people entered that fight with firearms in hand, and shots rang out from multiple different individuals."
Anyone with information about the crime was urged to call Major Crimes Detective J. DeBoard at 804-646-6795 or contact Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000. The P3 Tips Crime Stoppers app can also be used. All Crime Stoppers reporting methods are anonymous.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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