Deadly Richmond shootings leave community stunned
Richmond police are investigating two separate shootings that left three people dead on Tuesday, June 18.
RICHMOND, Calif. - Richmond police are investigating two separate shootings that happened over nine hours on Tuesday.
The gun violence took the lives of three people, one of whom was a pregnant woman.
At 4:15 p.m., Richmond police responded to calls and a gunshot detection system, alerting them that shots were fired at the corner of Seventh and Pennsylvania, in front of a small corner market. There were four victims hit by gunfire.
A 16-year-old who asked to remain anonymous told KTVU she heard gunfire from her house down the block. She walked to the scene, where she saw a man in his 20s, lifeless on the ground and a woman was being placed in an ambulance.
She said, "It was sad, he looked young."
As for the female victim, she said, "They were checking on her, she was alive, but she looked scared."
The woman, reportedly in her 20s and pregnant, later died at a hospital.
Two other male victims at the scene were reported to be in stable condition on Wednesday, after being treated at a hospital.
The neighborhood in Richmond is known as the "Iron Triangle," with a long history of gun violence and gangs.
Virginia Sandoval is a senior citizen, who walks the neighborhood at least once a day for her health. She has lived here for 30, raising her kids in this neighborhood. Despite the gun violence this week, she said, it has actually improved.
She said, "It’s definitely way better than when I moved out here in 1994. At that time, there were a lot of gangs and a lot of shootings."
Even so, neighbors stay alert.
With her hands in her sweatshirt pockets, the unidentified teen reflected out loud on the latest gun violence near her home.
She said, "It’s scary, it could happen to anybody, at any time. Yesterday it happened out of nowhere. It’s not something you expect on a daily basis. It’s so sad and scary."
Later, just after midnight in North Richmond, not far from the quadruple shooting crime scene, police responded to a scene where a man was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sandoval shook her head upon hearing about the second shooting that took another man’s life within nine hours.
"I feel sad because they were so young, in their twenties," she said. "Just living their lives, starting to live their lives. I hope their families get the comfort they need. I’m going to pray for them."
This latest gun violence brings the total number of homicides in Richmond this year to seven.
Police have not released the names of the victims. They have not said whether the two incidents are related.
They are asking for anyone with information on either of these cases to contact them. Callers can remain anonymous.
Alice Wertz is a freelance reporter with KTVU Fox 2 News. She can be reached at Alice.Wertz@Fox.com