Danville Police investigating homicide of 23-year-old

DANVILLE, Va. (WDBJ) - Residents of the Woodside Village Apartments and surrounding areas in Danville were startled Wednesday night when gunshots were fired.

According to police, 23-year-old Darick Richardson III was shot multiple times in the parking lot of Woodside Village Apartments on Piney Forest Road. They say he was flown to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“That person has a family. I don’t know if they have children or not, but that person has a mother. That would be just the same as if I lost one of my kids,” said Holley Hooker, apartment resident.

Hooker was in her car when the shooting happened while her friend’s children watched from inside.

“Everything was completely calm and then all of a sudden out of nowhere, gunshots just started going off,,so me and her just ran inside of our apartments,” said Hooker. “What would have happened if a bullet would have ricocheted and one of them would have got shot? It’s way too many kids around here for them to be doing that.”

The Danville Police Department held a heart walk Thursday afternoon to try and put the neighborhood at ease.

“We come out any time after a major shooting event, loss of life, just different type of things. We don’t want rumors and we want to make sure the community gets facts from us and we can answer any questions,” said Captain Steve Richardson, Danville Public Information Officer.

Officials say this was not a random act of violence.

“Some people have problems sleeping and fear that they’re going to be a victim when things like this happen,” said Richardson. “So, when we know that an incident was not a random act, we certainly wanna get that out. We don’t always know, but when we do that, we feel like that helps people a lot.”

A suspect description or name has not been released.

The Danville Police Department is asking for surveillance camera video from anyone who lives in the Woodside Village Apartment Community and surrounding areas.

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