Two killed, 5 wounded at Virginia high school graduation shooting

A man armed with four handguns killed two people and wounded five others when he fired into a crowd after a high school graduation ceremony in the United States city of Richmond, Virginia, police have said.

A man armed with four handguns killed two people and wounded five others when he fired into a crowd after a high school graduation ceremony in the United States city of Richmond, Virginia, police have said.

Police said they arrested one suspect, a 19-year-old man, in relation to the shooting on Tuesday near a theatre where the graduation ceremony had taken place adjacent to the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

The suspect was likely to be charged with two counts of second-degree murder in addition to other offences, interim Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards told a press conference.

“As they heard the gunfire, it was obviously chaos,” he said. “We had hundreds of people in Monroe Park, so people scattered. It was very chaotic at the scene.”

Edwards called the attacker’s behaviour “disgusting and cowardly”, since his dispute appeared to be with just one person.

The deceased were men aged 18 and 36, Edwards said. Their names were not released, but police believe the suspect, who was not immediately identified, knew at least one of the victims.