Suspect dead, officer injured by gunfire in police chase near VCU campus

https://youtu.be/ucokpsI2SEw

An armed suspect was killed in a confrontation with Richmond police at the periphery of VCU campus Wednesday evening.

After responding to complaints of an armed suspect, one of the responding officers was shot in the arm on Cary street during a foot pursuit of the armed suspect and has been transported to VCU Medical Center, according to ABC8 News.

Chief Durham and Mayor Jones went to the hospital and visited the officer involved in today's shooting. Chief says officer will be okay.

— Richmond Police (@RichmondPolice) August 6, 2015

A few streets away on Broad and Lombardy, a separate Richmond police officer’s vehicle crashed at the Sunoco gas station, about a block from the Kroger that many VCU students frequent. ABC8 also reported that the officer, whose vehicle crashed at the Sunoco, was seen exiting the vehicle conscious at the scene.

Police Chief Alfred Durham made a public appearance following the incident at the intersection of Cary and Rowland streets.

Locals, including the aunt of the victim, were among those at the press conference. Many attendees were outraged over the death of the suspect, and there were shouts directed at the chief during the brief exchange.

“You have to give us the opportunity, and sometimes we have an obligation to take force,” Durham said in response to one citizen.

Residents are asking "where is the mayor?" @RichmondPolice

— The Commonwealth Times (@theCT) August 5, 2015

The crowd was also frustrated by the allegations that the suspect, a Black male, was shot between fifteen and twenty times. Officials have not yet confirmed this.

“We are going to get answers,” said a relative of the victim to the crowd. “If each and every one of us could have been there for Keshawn, then we would have. But we have to let (the police) do their job and we have to do our job.”

Spectrum Editor, Austin Walker

Austin is a sophomore print journalism major. He started at the CT as a contributing writer, and frequently covers work done by artists and performers both on and off campus. He hopes to one day be a columnist writing about art that impacts culture, politics and documenting the lives of extraordinary and everyday people. // Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

walkeraw@commonwealthtimes.org