Shooting at crowd from graduation ceremony in the US, 7 people shot

Reuters today, June 7, quoted police as saying that they had arrested a suspect in the above shooting. He was a 19-year-old man who knew one of the victims. The suspect shot the victim in the middle of a crowd that had just emerged from the Huguenot High School graduation ceremony held inside a theater on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Xả súng vào đám đông từ lễ tốt nghiệp ở Mỹ, 7 người bị bắn - Ảnh 1. — Police vehicles are seen parked near a park where police say a gunman opened fire in Richmond, Virginia, on June 6.

Richmond Interim Police Chief Rick Edwards said at a news conference that the suspect is likely to be charged with second-degree murder, among other charges. Edwards called the shooter's actions "disgusting and cowardly," as the suspect appeared to have been involved in a dispute with just one person.

"When you have a crowd like this, innocent people are going to get caught up in the chaos, and that's what happened today. Obviously, this is supposed to be a safe space... It's incredibly tragic that someone would choose to bring a gun to this incident and unleash terror on our community," Edwards said at a press conference.

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The dead were two men, aged 18 and 36, Edwards added. He would not confirm a report from WWBT television that the victims were father and son.

Among the injured, a 31-year-old man is not in critical condition and four other male victims aged 14, 32, 55 and 58 are expected to survive, according to Mr. Edwards.

Additionally, a 9-year-old girl was hit by a car in the ensuing chaos and several others were injured from falls or nervousness, according to Edwards.

Xả súng vào đám đông từ lễ tốt nghiệp ở Mỹ, 7 người bị bắn - Ảnh 2. — Police investigate at the scene of a shooting in Richmond on June 6.

Mr Edwards also said the suspect fled the scene and was arrested in possession of four handguns. He stressed that it was too early to draw conclusions as the investigation is still ongoing.

America has become accustomed to mass shootings in public places like schools, shopping malls, and churches. A mass shooting is defined as a shooting in which four or more people are shot or killed, not including the perpetrator.

The mass shooting was the 279th in the United States in the first 157 days of 2023, according to Reuters, citing data from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that catalogs every incident of gun violence in the United States.

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