News

On the day Gov. Ralph Northam announced the state would remove the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from Monument Avenue, six members of the nine-member council signaled support for removing four other city-controlled monuments on the strip.

“Its gonna take me a while to recover. But I will recover. And I will continue to go forth for what’s best for the community, and be a positive role model in this community. With that money, I am definitely going to make up for the property that was lost for the individual that trust in me as a business owner to work and repair the devices.” -- Leonard Blue, Experimax Owner

Richmond police responded to a video circulating online of an officer — who is wearing a protective gas mask — running up to protesters and spraying them with gas at close range. In a tweet RPD said that Chief William Smith has reviewed the video and the officers involved have been pulled from the field.

Richmond police sent out a second tweet regarding officers who have been removed from the field after Smith reviewed videos of protesters being gassed.

Earlier, Smith said the information he provided at the news conference was based on “a lot more intelligence about what’s been going on over the last three days.” He said he’d gotten information from the local FBI office, and that the event had air support and surveillance to support the arrests. “Our enforcement of the curfew was directed solely at those that were involved in violence and destruction of our city,” Smith said.

The arrests were made primarily for curfew violations, but arrests for vandalism, firearm violations and commercial burglary were made as well, said Richmond Police Chief William Smith while speaking to the media on Monday afternoon.  

Police had said Sunday night that at least two dozen people had been arrested, but news outlets reported Richmond police Chief William Smith updated that number during a news conference Monday, saying a total of 233 people had been arrested. Smith said more than half of the people who were arrested did not live in Richmond.