RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond City School Board released the report from a third-party investigation into last year’s Huguenot High School graduation mass shooting.
According to the report, 18-year-old victim Shawn Jackson did not have authorization to participate in the graduation ceremony, nor did he attend practices before the event. The report identified significant safety risks posed to Jackson throughout the past several years.
“Information provided for this Review supports the proposition that the student’s participation in graduation occurred without any consideration of or adherence to required authorizations, and without proper vetting and consideration of the safety concerns that were known by several members of HHS [Huguenot High School],” the report said.
This shooting happened on June 6, 2023, at the Altria Theater in Richmond following Huguenot High’s graduation ceremony. Seven people were injured and two were killed — Jackson and his stepfather, Lorenzo Smith.
8News received the Sands Anderson report from the Richmond City School Board shortly after 1 p.m. and continues to read through the findings. We will update this story throughout the day.
The report: Former principal “checked-out,” unfit for position
According to the report, former Huguenot High School principal Robert Gilstrap “had ultimate responsibility for all activities and processes in the HHS building” during the 2022-23 school year.
Chief academic officer Solomon Jefferson described Gilstrap as “checked-out,” “not fully present” in his role, and said he was looking for another job. He said Gilstrap’s approach was “laissez-faire” and said he did not provide leadership nor direction in the school.
Jefferson covered the responsibilities of the vacant principal director position during that year, as well as his “numerous other roles and responsibilities,” according to the report.
According to the report, Huguenot school counselor Monique Harris brought concerns from herself and Tameeka Jackson Smith, Jackson’s mother, to both Gilstrap and a former assistant principal, Kevin Olds, asking that Jackson not be required to come to school in person for any reason “due to safety issues.”
“If any action was taken by Mr. Olds or Mr. Gilstrap to address any of these security issues, the records provided for this Review do not evidence that,” the report said.
The report says that Gilstrap is no longer employed with Richmond City Public Schools and declined an interview, saying he was “seeking legal counsel.”
Security concerns involving Shawn Jackson
According to the report, known security concerns associated with Jackson began in 2021. He was receiving homebound instruction at the time.
Harris told investigators that Jackson’s mother was very concerned about her son being on school grounds.
Harris also said Jackson was on homebound instruction because of “mental health issues” as well as “the threat of neighborhood violence” stemming from his connection to another person involved in a crime, according to the report.
There was a “gap” in the information provided to all staff working with Jackson, resulting in him having “academic demands placed upon him that were likely inconsistent with his present medical status,” according to the report. Jackson’s physician submitted a form listing things like big classroom settings and school authorities being triggers for his illness.
The report includes information from an email exchange with Jackson’s mother. She says that when attending school in person for testing, her son was placed “in class with people who literally tried to kill him.” Harris explained that she thought he would be isolated for the test.
Regarding graduation rehearsals, Harris said she and Jackson’s mother discussed “[squeezing]” Jackson into the ceremony without his attending rehearsal if his mother thought attending rehearsal would be “too dangerous.”
According to the report, Harris originally told investigators Jackson was approved to attend graduation. Investigators read the internal school board report and found that he was never approved. Harris was “repeatedly” reached out to by investigators to “reconcile” these different narratives but never responded.
In a November 2023 memo sent to Sands Anderson, Richmond City Public Schools superintendent Jason Kamras said that the firm having “found no evidence that Ms. Harris, the school counselor working with Shawn Jackson, was acting as the principal’s designee in making the decision about whether Shawn should participate in the graduation ceremony” contradicted with what the school district had found in its own investigation.
“Our internal conclusion that she was, in fact, serving in this capacity was based on conversations that Mr. Jefferson, Chief Academic Officer for Secondary Education, had with then-Principal Gilstrap, who indicated that he had delegated this responsibility to his counselors,” Kamras said in the memo. “Unfortunately, we are not able to re-verify this, as Mr. Gilstrap has declined to be interviewed.”
Homebound “not a comprehensive educational program”
The report describes the homebound program that Jackson was participating in as “a temporary program to accommodate the needs of students while they are confined to the home for medical reasons.”
The “Home Instruction Services Parent/Teacher/Student Handbook” for the 2022-23 school year listed many restrictions for homebound students. This included not allowing homebound students to be on school property, attend school-sponsored activities or participate in extracurriculars, among others.
However, there were “different views about whether the Handbook was policy requiring strict adherence,” according to the report. A central office leader called it “suggested practice,” not policy — whereas the home instruction coordinator said these restrictions needed to be followed.
There is additional confusion due to the Homebound Certification Form listing different requirements from the Handbook. There is not, however, any evidence to suggest that the school board made decisions based on the Form, according to the report.
It is not known whether or not Jackson’s mother was aware of the Handbook and its guidelines, according to the report. It is confirmed that the decision to bring Jackson onto school property five times, including graduation, was made without approval by the principal, a designee or the Office of Home Instruction.
“While there were many human resources involved in [Jackson’s] homebound process, the evidence reviewed revealed a process that was confusing and inefficient for parents, students, and staff,” the report said. “Additionally, the process appeared to have contributed to silos of important information being held and not shared or distributed with staff in a manner that could have optimized student achievement.”
Security issues at the Altria Theater during graduation
At the Huguenot High graduation, the ratio of security personnel to “expected persons exiting the venue towards the park [Monroe Park]” was 1 to 780, according to the report.
Magnetometers — or metal detectors — were paid for and provided for the ceremonies. According to the report, ticketholders for the ceremony only entered through the front entrance, which was equipped with magnetometers at all times.
Staff, graduates and dignitaries accessed the building through all three entrances — the front entrance, the VIP entrance and the graduate entrance.
None of the three interviewed school board members report entering through the VIP entrance. However, according to the report, there was a document explaining that staff working the event and VIPs should use this entrance.
One “consistently reported” fact, according to the report, is that only one employee — a RMC Events Unarmed Security Officer described as “an older man” — staffed the graduates’ entrance before the 4 p.m. graduation start time. This “sparse staffing” existed despite a predicted 310 graduates using this point of entry.
“In this review, there emerged differing narratives of whether magnetometers were in place
at the graduates’ entrance,” the report said.
Kevin Monroe, a current assistant principal at Huguenot High, said he arrived to the Altria Theater shortly before 3 p.m. and entered through the graduates’ entrance. He saw and walked through a stationary magnetometer, but said it “should have went off, but it didn’t” despite the belt and watch he was wearing and the phone in his hand.
“He [Monroe] further advised that no one conducted a further search of him as he entered, and although he had his RPS ID badge, no one checked it,” the report said.
Two other school staff members who used the graduates’ entrance had conflicting reports. One said they saw magnetometers and the other said they did not. The one who saw magnetometers reported leaving and re-entering the building multiple times and not always being screened.
School board member Stephanie Rizzi said she did not see any security staff at the graduate entrance nor a magnetometer. School board member Shonda Harris-Muhammed also did not see a magnetometer.
Harris-Muhammed said she did not see staff upon her first entry, but saw one employee upon re-entering closer to the ceremony’s start.
Additionally, they both witnessed students entering without being screened.
According to the report, investigators requested access to video footage from graduation day to confirm whether or not magnetometers were, in fact, in place. Both the Altria Theater and the security firm refused to cooperate with these requests.
Jackson was late to the ceremony, his name was read out-of-order
Jackson was late to the ceremony, according to the report. No one reported seeing him in the ballroom prior. Jackson’s mother sent Harris an email just before 3 p.m. telling her that Jackson would be in around 3:30 p.m., saying she was giving him time to calm down.
Multiple witnesses report seeing Gilstrap enter the lobby with Jackson. Monroe said he saw Gilstrap talking with Jackson and shaking his hand as he came in.
As graduates were already lining up for the ceremony, Monroe said Jackson “probably just found his spot and jumped in the line.”
Jackson’s late arrival is supported by the video of the graduation ceremony. Jackson was announced out of alphabetical order. There is a pause of almost 30 seconds, as Harris and Gilstrap “[reshuffled]” diplomas, before Jackson appears on stage.
The procession out was heavily understaffed
According to the report, the security plan in place for exiting the Altria Theater involved the graduates exiting first, then the guests. They were to exit towards Monroe Park across Laurel Street.
The planning for the graduation stated that about 3,600 people were expected to exit the building onto the street at the same time.
The total staff supervising this exit included only 22 Care and Safety Associates, as RMC Events was “assigned to provide only building security upon entry and inside the venue.” Additionally, five off-duty Richmond Police Department staff and three off-duty Richmond Fire/EMS staff were outside.
This resulted in a 1 to 780 ratio of personnel to those expected to be exiting the building — and a 1 to 1,300 ratio of emergency services personnel to those expected to be exiting the building.
“All persons interviewed for this review reported that the immediate emergency response fell to RPS CSAs, teachers, administrators, and dignitaries,” the report said.
This response included securing the Altria Theater’s doors, assisting those injured by both gunfire and the resulting stampede, assisting the elderly and disabled, reuniting families and helping those trying to shelter in the theater.
A Huguenot High School counselor provided CPR to one of the two killed in the shooting and a school board member protected the injured from being filmed, according to the report.
School board members respond to report’s release
School board member Jonathan Young, who has been vocal about this report being released since the investigation was conducted, provided the following statement:
“The report reveals RPS for what it is, i.e a school district that repeatedly demonstrates a callous disregard for student and teacher safety and welfare. There is a lot of culpability beginning with the School Board.”
Jonathan Young, Richmond City School Board
School board member Kenya Gibson provided this statement:
“The public can now fully comprehend where the district has failed. There has been a pattern with administration not following basic safety procedures. These missteps have lead to emergencies in escalating magnitude. We can’t allow this to continue. When Fox Elementary School burned down we learned the alarms didn’t work. When the bus depot burned we learned there were no smoke detectors. We had security issues when there was a school shooting months before the graduation. After those events, I called for the board to hire a safety auditor to monitor compliance with protocols. I hope my colleagues can now agree that position is necessary, and I hope they will support funding it.”
Kenya Gibson, Richmond City School Board
Background of the report and civil lawsuit
This document release is the result of a civil lawsuit filed by two local media outlets, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and WTVR, as well as Joshua Stanfield. The lawsuit was filed on the basis that the school board’s refusal to release the entire report violated Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Richmond Judge W. Reilly Marchant heard arguments in this case on Friday, Jan. 12. The Richmond City School Board argued that releasing the report would violate attorney-client privilege.
The school board’s initial plan was to release an “executive summary” of the report instead of the full text. It denied FOIA requests for the report, including one filed by 8News.
The judge submitted his decision on Tuesday, saying he did not believe the school board proved that the entire report fell within attorney-client privilege.
“A non-privileged document does not somehow become privileged simply because it includes information the owner would prefer not to disclose,” said the judge in his letter.
Minimal redactions that “constitute legal advice” were allowed by the judge. He ordered the Richmond School Board to redact those specific items and respond to all FOIA requests by 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17.
Multiple school board members responded to the decision, with Superintendent Jason Kamras and Board Chair Stephanie Rizzi submitting a joint statement on Wednesday “[welcoming] the release of the report.”
This a developing story, stay with 8News for updates.
