RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Richmond Circuit Court judge ruled that the Richmond City School Board must release a report written after a third-party investigation into a shooting at Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony that killed two people.
The decision, handed down by Judge W. Reilly Marchant on Tuesday, Jan. 16, orders the school board to release the report “with redactions” by 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17.
Shots rang out in front of Richmond’s Altria Theater, where Huguenot’s graduation ceremony had just finished, at around 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6. Seven people were injured and two people, graduating senior Shawn Jackson and his stepfather, 36-year-old Lorenzo Smith, were killed.
Richmond Interim Chief of Police Rick Edwards gives a news briefing about a shooting that happened at the Huguenot High School graduation, Tuesday, June 6, 2023, in Richmond, Va. (Margo Wagner/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP) 
Scene of a mass shooting that occurred at the Altria Theatre during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023 in Richmond. Two people were killed and several others were injured. (Photo: 8News) 
Scene of a mass shooting that occurred at the Altria Theatre during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023 in Richmond. Two people were killed and several others were injured. (Photo: 8News) 
Scene of a mass shooting that occurred at the Altria Theatre during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023 in Richmond. Two people were killed and several others were injured. (Photo: 8News) 
Scene of a mass shooting that occurred at the Altria Theatre during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023 in Richmond. Two people were killed and several others were injured. (Photo: 8News) 
Scene of a mass shooting that occurred at the Altria Theatre during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023 in Richmond. Two people were killed and several others were injured. (Photo: 8News) 
Scene of a mass shooting that occurred at the Altria Theatre during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023 in Richmond. Two people were killed and several others were injured. (Photo: 8News) 
Scene of a mass shooting that occurred at the Altria Theatre during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023 in Richmond. Two people were killed and several others were injured. (Photo: 8News) 
Scene of a mass shooting that occurred at the Altria Theatre during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023 in Richmond. Two people were killed and several others were injured. (Photo: 8News) 
Flowers lie in front of the Altria Theater after the Huguenot High School graduation mass shooting (Photo: Allie Barefoot/WRIC) 
Flowers and balloons were placed at the entrance sign for Huguenot High School Wednesday, Jun. 7, 2023, in Richmond, Va. A student form the school and his step-father were killed after a graduation ceremony Tuesday. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
After the shooting, the school district commissioned internal and third-party external investigations into what led up to the shooting, the former of which resulted in several changes to policies.
The school district initially said it would release an “executive summary” of the report written after the external investigation, but refused to release the report itself, saying it is “subject to attorney-client privilege.”
The judge who heard the case did not agree, saying that “not every communication between attorney and client falls within [attorney-client] privilege” and that “a lawyer acting primarily as an investigator rather than as a legal advisor does not deserve privilege protections when he or she communicates with a client in connection with an internal corporate investigation.”
“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 the decision.
According to the document, at a school board meeting on Nov. 20, 2023, the school board’s counsel said the report being released could result in unspecified “insurance coverage issues” and a board member said that release could “adversely impact” the “ongoing criminal case” connected to the shooting.
In response to this, the judge said that any consequences the release of the report might result in are not grounds to exempt the report from mandatory release. The judge did rule, however, that the school board may redact “several minimal parts” of the report which were determined to have been legal advice.
Several Richmond School Board members and school officials have shared statements with 8News in response to the ruling, including Superintendent Jason Kamras, who said he and board chair Stephanie Rizzi “welcome the release of the report.”
School board member Shondra Harris-Muhammad, who initially motioned to commission the external report, told 8News she is “pleased that the Judge ruled in favor of transparency” and that operations within the school system have been a “deep concern” for her.
“Student outcomes will not change unless adult behaviors change,” said Harris-Muhammad in the statement. “I will never waiver from that.”
School board member Jonathan Young, who has also been outspoken in support of the report’s release, told 8News that “RPS stakeholders have a right to know how their school district failed them culminating in the shooting.”
This is a developing story, stay with 8News for updates.
