RICHMOND, Va. β Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards is issuing a stern warning ahead of New Year's Eve: don't celebrate with gunfire or officers will find and arrest you.
With New Year's Eve just one day away, Edwards addressed the expected sound of celebratory gunfire that typically fills the air during the holiday, something he wants to discourage.
"I think we've grown accustomed to it, but we shouldn't," Edwards said.
The police chief emphasized the serious consequences of using firearms to celebrate.
"Using your firearm to celebrate the New Year is inappropriate and can cause real world harm," Edwards said.
Edwards cited several recent examples of harm caused by celebratory gunfire, including three people injured in 2022 and the death of 28-year-old La-Tiyah Hood near North Avenue and Overbrook Road in 2020.
According to the plea agreement for the shooter, Mateen Johnson, he was firing "a large number of bullets into the air in celebration" when he thought the gun was empty. He lowered the weapon and pulled the trigger one more time, firing the bullet that killed Hood.
The agreement states Johnson told police it was a mistake and he never meant to kill her.
Edwards said this is a common theme among people he has personally interviewed over the years.
"I can just tell you, they think nothing of it," Edwards said.
The police chief reported that two years ago, Richmond had 92 calls for random gunfire and 84 last New Year's Eve. However, he believes these numbers are an undercount because people don't bother reporting incidents.
Edwards noted that some of the reported cases resulted in convictions for those who pulled the trigger.
Five plea agreements from the past two years describe men firing guns on Coalter Street near the Oliver Hill Crossing Apartments, with some instances captured on video showing gunfire in the direction of MLK Middle School.
Edwards said arrests were made days later in all those cases as police pursued leads.
"We will be following up relentlessly on these cases," Edwards said.
The police chief said officers will use technology including license plate readers and gunshot detection devices to track down violators.
Edwards added that officers will try to stay under hard cover for safety around midnight but will respond once calls start coming in, something that happened to him personally last year.
"We had to leave that hard cover and go, go find that person. So, you know, it's definitely something we want to have our officers forward deployed so they can respond rapidly, but it puts everyone at risk," Edwards said.
Edwards is asking residents to leave their guns at home when they go out to ring in 2026 and get through the New Year safely.
"Hopefully people will not be shooting guns in the air and discharging their weapons and celebrating, but if they do, our officers will be out there to make those arrests," Edwards said.
The police chief believes the reported numbers are an undercount because people have accepted celebratory gunfire as a reality. He urges residents not to accept this and instead call 911 if they hear gunfire happening around them.
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