Virginia high school graduation shooting leaves multiple casualties

Seven people have been shot, two fatally, when gunfire rang out outside a downtown theater in the US state of Virginia where a high school graduation ceremony had recently concluded, causing attendees to flee in panic, weep and clutch their children, authorities and witnesses reported.

Two suspects were taken into custody following the shooting in main Richmond city, which erupted shortly after 5 pm EDT on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, where local high school graduation ceremonies were being held, interim Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards and other officials told reporters on Tuesday.

The deceased were men aged 18 and 36, and one of the suspects was a 19-year-old man, Edwards said.

Their names were not released, but police believe the suspect knew at least one of the victims.

Police recovered multiple handguns.

A total of seven people were wounded in the shooting.

Police did not believe there was any ongoing threat to the community.

The identities of those in custody and those injured were not immediately released.

"We're going to do everything we can to bring the individuals who were involved in this to justice. ... This should not be happening anywhere," Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said at the news conference.

Richmond Public Schools said in a message on its website that the shooting took place in Monroe Park, which is across the street from the theatre and adjacent to the college campus, after a graduation ceremony for Huguenot High School.

Stampede as students flee

School board member Jonathan Young told Richmond TV station WWBT that graduates and other attendees were exiting the theatre when they heard about 20 gunshots in rapid succession.

"That prompted, as you would expect, hundreds of persons in an effort to flee the gunfire to return to the building," Young said. "It materialised in a stampede," he said.

According to police spokesperson Tracy Walker, two people were treated for falls; one juvenile was struck by a car and sustained injuries that were not life-threatening; and 9 people were treated at the scene for minor injuries or anxiety.

As he heard the gunshots and then sirens, neighbour John Willard, 69, stepped onto the balcony of his 18th-floor apartment to see what was happening below.

He saw students fleeing in their graduation outfits and parents hugging children.

"There was one poor woman in front of the apartment block next to ours who was wailing and crying," Willard said, adding that the scene left him deeply saddened.

Edythe Payne was helping her daughter sell flowers outside the theatre to students as they left the ceremony.

She told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the shooting caused a panic on nearby Main Street, which was packed with people at the time.

"I felt bad because some elderly people were at the graduation and they got knocked down to the ground," Payne said.

The school district said a different graduation scheduled for later on Tuesday had been cancelled "out of an abundance of caution" and schools would be closed Wednesday.