Two people injured over the weekend as spate of shootings continues

Gunshots rang throughout Richmond on Saturday night, injuring two people in two separate incidents.

A male victim who was in critical condition after suffering three gunshot wounds was flown in an emergency aircraft to a hospital Saturday evening. The victim, whose name has not been released, was shot on the 600 block of Harrison Drive just before 8 p.m., not far from where two teenagers were shot to death two nights earlier. Richmond Police Detective Nicole Abetkov said the victim has undergone at least one surgery and he is still in the hospital. Witnesses described seeing two male adults leaving the scene.

Hours later, a female victim was shot twice in the abdomen and the shoulder. Police found her in the area of the 3200 block of Ohio Avenue around 12:50 a.m. on Sunday morning.

The shootings closed out an especially violent week that saw three homicides, including the shooting deaths of two teenagers and James Tucker III. Police are investigating the deaths of Airian Holly, 16, and his sister Mecedes Williams, 19, who were shot outside a residence in Parchester Village. But Abetkov said they don’t have anything “concrete” about who is responsible.

Police are also working on leads for the death of Tucker, 31, who was shot to death while riding his bicycle on Ripley Avenue on Monday. Police officers found Tucker dead when they arrived on the scene that afternoon responding to the activation of the ShotSpotter system, which detects gunshot noise.

“They’re all active investigations,” Abetkov said. “We need the public’s help. We need people to come forward.”

Abetkov said that this violence is likely related to gang tensions, shifting alliances between groups and retaliation for other recent shootings. “There is some type of link to quite a few of them,” Abetkov said, referring to the shootings. However, she said, their information is not definitive and police are still investigating the crimes.