Richmond teenager shot dead less than 48 hours before high school graduation

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Richmond teenager was shot and killed just two days before his high school graduation.

The police were called to 1600 block of Edwards Avenue on Wednesday, May 22for a reported shooting and found 18-year-old Tyshawn White dead at the scene.

According to police, when officers arrived at the scene, a relative of the victim led them to White, who was lying on the ground with a gunshot wound and unresponsive.

“He was loving, you know, he didn’t cause any problems,” said his mother, Toni Atkins. “He was shy,”

White was supposed to graduate from high school on Friday, May 24, but instead of celebrating, his family was mourning.

Atkins said her son dreams of going to college and learning more about the heating, ventilation and air conditioning business.

“He was so excited. He had worked so hard for this. And now we know that’s been taken away from us,” Atkins said. “We were just going to celebrate my baby, but now I have to plan a church service.”

Although police have not confirmed the circumstances of the fatal shooting, Atkins said someone broke into her home and shot her son. In the aftermath, she is speaking out and hoping for justice.

“My baby wasn’t on the streets,” Atkins said. “He wasn’t violent. He didn’t live near a gun, so why did my baby have to die by one?”

Investigators are searching for surveillance camera footage from the area in the northern part of the Oak Grove neighborhood.

Anyone with information or video is asked to call Detective G. Sullivan at 804-646-3929.