An ‘all of the above’ approach; Richmond city officials look at gun violence solutions in Shockoe Bottom

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- City officials say additional surveillance cameras and patrol officers will be in Shockoe Bottom by the weekend after a mass shooting left two people dead and seven people injured. These are on the list of several things they say they're working on to prevent it from happening again.

The Richmond Police Department said 23-year-old Genesis Jones and 42-year-old Dominic Jackson died at the scene on Saturday, Feb. 21 when a fist fight turned into gunfire. The seven victims taken to the hospital are all expected to survive. No arrests have been made, but police say they're looking for multiple suspects.

On Tuesday, Feb. 24, city officials met for a public safety meeting. City Council president Cynthia Newbille, who represents the district Shockoe Bottom is in, will be meeting with business owners in the area with police chief Rick Edwards to talk about solutions to be put in place as soon as this weekend.   

"The goal is to share, to hear from the community, and to really map out strategies," Newbille said during the meeting.

In the short term: the additional surveillance cameras and patrolling.

In the long-term: a police sub station in the area was mentioned, and making Shockoe a gun free zone. Chief Edwards said it's off the table until at least next year, though.  

"When it comes to gun free zones, at the General Assembly, unfortunately that has been pushed until the possibility 'til next year," he said. "People walk around with guns and we don't have the legal authority to take them from them... There are many cases that we've stopped where what happened Saturday night, and I warned about that in this forum too, that we are gonna have a mass shooting."

Mayor Danny Avula and Chief Edwards have teased what they're calling "ambassadors" to usher people home at the end of the night and act as a friendly face, but not intervene in dangerous altercations or take the place of a police officer. 

Not everyone's convinced that's the best solution, but change is wanted now. 

"You can't just keep having meeting and meeting and meeting. They want to see something in place," City Council District 8 representative Reva Trammell said to Chief Edwards.  

She raised concerns that if an ambassador was caught in crossfire, the city would be held liable for it.

Chief Edwards said he and Mayor Avula have talked about this, and doesn't believe the mayor thinks the ambassadors are going to be the only thing to fix the problem, but that they're taking an "all of the above" approach.