Family warned school about threats to their son who was shot and killed at graduation, report shows

An 18-year-old student who was fatally shot last year after graduating from high school in Virginia was kept home for months due to fears for his safety but was still allowed to attend the commencement ceremony, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report, prepared by a law firm at the request of Richmond Public Schools, shows that the decision to allow Shawn Jackson to attend Huguenot High School commencement occurred despite regulations prohibiting homebound students from attending to school-sponsored activities without permission from a school principal. or their designated person.

Jackson and his stepfather, Lorenzo Smith, 36, were shot dead in June 2023 at the end of graduation ceremonies outside Richmond’s Altria Theater, located on the edge of Virginia Commonwealth University. Five other people were injured by gunfire, and at least 12 others suffered other injuries or were treated for anxiety as a result of the chaos, police said.

Amari Pollard, 19, who graduated with Jackson, is jailed awaiting trial on murder charges in Jackson’s death.

Richmond Public Schools released the 29-page report, along with thousands of pages of supporting interview transcripts and documents investigating what happened. A judge ordered the report’s release Tuesday after the school board voted against making the report public.

The report shows that Jackson’s mother was so concerned about her son’s safety that she sent an email to a counselor a week before the shooting asking if her son could skip graduation rehearsal. A school counselor told the mother she would include Jackson at commencement without attending required rehearsals “if you feel it is too dangerous.”

Four months before the shooting, the mother sent an email complaining about safety procedures when her son had to come to the school in person to take a test.

“He was in class with people who literally tried to kill him,” she wrote.

And a year before the shooting, she told the same counselor and school principal that “we are still homeless because our house was shot up by Huguenot students.”

In a telephone interview, the former director, Robert Gilstrap, said it was unfair for the report to blame him or the advisor who allowed Jackson to attend the graduation ceremony.

“The whole mission we were given in my years there was, ‘We have to make sure these kids graduate,’” said Gilstrap, who is now an assistant superintendent at the Virginia Department of Education. He said he understood that the dispute between Pollard and Jackson was something that dated back to their freshman year, and he said he had not been made aware that the mother had raised new concerns about her son’s safety.

Gilstrap said he was not aware of the report’s release until contacted by a reporter, and he took issue with a description in the report that he had “checked out” as principal around the time of the graduation shooting, while he was looking for another job.

“I worked there for eight years,” he says. “I was the longest-serving director in Huguenot history.”

According to the report, the counselor told investigators that she did not consult with the principal before telling the mother that Jackson could attend the graduation ceremony. But Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras said in a response memo that the school system believes Gilstrap delegated authority to decide Jackson’s participation in graduation ceremonies to the counselor.

The school system did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the report’s findings. A written statement was issued that said, in part: “Our shared commitment is to learn from this tragedy and continue to improve to further protect our students and staff. We have already taken several steps, including updating our policy on who can authorize students to participate in a graduation ceremony.”