by Jon Baliles

The story of the July 4th Dogwood Dell Mayoral and Police Chief press conference grows stranger with each day and subsequent stories. Noted philosophers Bill & Ted may have put it best when they said: “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” (That’s a 7-11 for all you locals).

The July 6th press conference about preventing a July 4th mass shooting at Dogwood Dell has taken a turn for the surreal, as stories are incongruent and details are haphazard and just not adding up. Local media at all levels are trying to piece together the puzzle.

Reporters are trying to gather details and get more information while juggling “clarifications” to questions everyone has about the threat.

WRIC reported, “The Richmond Police Department has refused to share crucial evidence to verify its claim that a mass shooting,” saying it is all part of an ongoing investigation. No one knows how or why Dogwood Dell was the target because it was not mentioned anywhere in any document or filing and no one will explain. One explanation was the location was deduced because it was a major public gathering.

This week, Crime Insider Jon Burkett had an interview on WRVA and points out several salient points:
He asked Mayor Stoney at an event if the mass shooting story was made up and he said Stoney “danced” and said the City stopped a mass attack. He asked the Mayor if he alerted other jurisdictions and “inevitably the answer was no.” And when Burkett asked the Mayor when he found out about the mass shooting threat, Stoney replied, “July 5th.”

So the obvious question might be: if the Mayor didn’t know until July 5th about a threat on July 4th, how could he say at the press conference on July 6th that “our officers quietly investigated and collaborated with their law enforcement partners and the community” ?  Because not many other people or police departments were aware a threat existed. And if the Mayor wasn’t told about any mass shooting threat until after the threat or our neighboring jurisdictions were not notified, then why aren’t we looking for a new police chief?

Burkett was charitable in his assessment in the WRVA interview when he said it was a “puzzling timeline to me” and wondered how the Mayor didn’t know about the threat until after it was supposed to happen. He summed it up in his radio interview, “…now you are talking integrity issues.”

Burkett also wondered how the media and the public can rely on the police leadership to release accurate information going forward, and if it should be believed or not. There is little wonder why morale among the officers is so low. That is the last place any community wants to be in — questioning if you can believe your mayor or legislator or police chief about a potential mass shooting.
But that is exactly the place we find ourselves. As Burkett closed the interview he asked, “…where does it go from here?”

What’s potentially worse is that the larger question about this whole saga is this: if the Mayor and Chief Smith stood at the podium on July 6th and told the public about the mass shooting threat at Dogwood Dell but, as court documents indicate (so far) that Dogwood Dell was not mentioned, then the Mayor and the Chief were not square with the public. They might defend it by saying they got the message out that if you see something, say something. Few will argue with that message, but if it’s delivered under the pretense of scaring the community you are sworn or elected to serve then that is hardly a legitimate defense (see Story #2).

On the other hand, did the Mayor and Chief know about a potential mass shooting threat and not tell anyone about it? Did they fail to let the Richmond Police on scene at Dogwood Dell or staff at The Diamond know of a threat or alert surrounding localities at their large gatherings? That is an entirely more escalatory question as to jeopardizing public safety and a serious question as to either the Mayor or the Chief have the fitness and public confidence to lead or be trusted.

Either way, something does not add up and it is very worrisome for public safety and public confidence. Leaning into the “see something, say something” theme, while well-intentioned, could come back to cause more harm than good and further erode the trust the government and police leadership are supposed to build with our community.

This column has been republished with permission from RVA 5X5.