Early Wednesday morning, a shooting occurred involving Richmond and VCU police near the intersection of Laurel and Broad Streets during a traffic stop.
Sidney Raskind, an English major, did not see the shooting but heard it from his apartment on the 700 block of West Broad Street.
“I was lying down and I heard a man say, ‘Oh crap. He’s gonna shoot.’ Then all of a sudden I heard six gunshots,” Raskind said. “(My roommate and I) went to our windows and looked outside, and there were cop cars everywhere and a gentleman lying on the ground.”
According to an alert sent out by VCU Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration John Bennett, at approximately 2:27 a.m., a Richmond police officer made a traffic stop on the 800 block of West Broad Street. Bennett stated that, according to officers on the scene, the driver left his vehicle and moved toward police with a knife in hand. Richmond and VCU police fired their weapons, striking the suspect several times.
Neither of the officers involved in the incident were injured. The suspect was taken to VCU Medical Center for serious injuries.
An investigation of the incident is underway.
“The Richmond Police are leading the investigation,” said Pamela Lepley, director of VCU Communications and Public Relations.