HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A teenager is dead after a shoot out with Henrico Police in the Short Pump on Sunday afternoon, leading one nearby business owner to rethink the safety of the area.
Henrico Police were called to the Short Pump area around 4:40 p.m. Sunday, March 19 for a reported robbery from a nearby business.
After talking to witnesses, police located the suspects — a teenage boy and an unidentified woman. It was also determined that the suspect had a gun on him at the time of the incident.
According to police, the teenage boy shot at police first, then three Henrico police officers returned fire. The suspect was struck during the firefight. However, police did not confirm that he was shot by a deputy.
No one else was hurt in the incident.
Another suspect who was in the now deceased juvenile’s truck with him at the time of the shootout has not yet been charged, according to police.
All three officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave.
Max Koehler, who owns the Wash Your Way RVA car wash located off of Sadler Street, says his business was in the center of the danger and he and his team had to act fast and pause business.
“From our perspective the safety of our crew was especially important, so that kind of factored into our decision immediately at the time,” Koehler said. “We were just going with it. It’s just something that you don’t see in this area. Ever.”
Koehler says he has never seen or heard of anything like this happening in the Short Pump area.
“Usually this feels like a quieter part of time,” he said. “Short Pump can be very busy, but I can’t recall an incident or anything like this happening on the scarier side.”
Koehler says at this point, he is focusing on the safety of his team and the community.
“The community wants to feel safe, and I think they do,” Koehler said. “So hopefully it’s not something we will encounter. Because as we’re learning more it is a very unfortunate situation.”
