NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Heritage High School shooting was heard around the entire Newport News community, but no one feel the effects as much as the victims and their families.
Tuesday, Newport News Police arrested a 15-year-old student in connection to the Monday morning shooting, which sent two teens to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
13News Now made contact with the family of one victim who suffered gunshot wounds from the shooting, but they did not wish to appear on camera or release their identity for the sake of this story. However, they did share some details from the emotional day.
In a conversation with the father, he said he first heard about the shooting after a call from his own son after 11 a.m., who called to tell his father he’d been shot.
The phone call lasted only 2 minutes before being dropped when the father then rushed to Riverside Hospital.
"Yesterday's shooting was an act of violence that could have been prevented," a statement reads.
The son is now in stable condition, according to the family and those close to the situation.
In a statement to 13News Now as of Tuesday afternoon, the victim's father continues:
“We have still had no contact from Heritage High School or public officials in charge. There’s a lot of questions us as a family have not had answers to!”
The father also expressed frustration over the response time and said the act of violence is one that could have been prevented.
While the family did not wish to speak in person, 13News Now did talk to community advocate and founder of community organization Empower All, Yugonda Sample Jones, who has since talked with both the family and other parents in the Newport News area.
“Without accountability, how is there changed behavior? We need to assess what happened. We’re still healing, and we’re going to address that but it’s a holistic approach so that this doesn’t happen again to another student," she said.
A common issue among parents, according to Sample-Jones, is what they felt as a breakdown of communication between the school and parents that day.
“We were already on the edge about COVID, and now questions are being brought up about school safety? We need to make sure these schools are safe," Sample-Jones said.