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Richmond police recorded the city's lowest number of homicides in years in 2025, but a surge in shootings during the final three months has officials working to address what they're calling one of the most significant spikes in gun violence in half a decade.
The city recorded six homicides last year, a record low, while overall shooting incidents dropped 27 percent from 2024, Assistant Police Chief Tim Simmons told the Community Police Review Commission on Wednesday. The figure does not include fatal police shootings in February and August.
At least 32 victims were struck by gunfire during the year, with one person still on life support. Simmons said he was awaiting a medical update on a possible second victim on life support.
But 50 of the year's 110 shooting incidents were in just the last 90 days of 2025, a 163 percent increase over the previous quarter.
"It is something that we are dedicating a good portion of our investigative resources to," Simmons said during the meeting. He called the 90-day jump one of the largest over the last five years.
The Iron Triangle neighborhood and the Annex area in South Richmond bore the brunt of the violence, with both areas "disproportionately victimized," according to Simmons.
"When you have 110 shooting incidents, the way I look at these things, most of these are just homicides that didn't end up as a homicide," Simmons said.
The uptick comes as old feuds between factions have resurfaced, and gun violence has spread to parts of the city that don't typically see such crimes, Simmons said. He plans to meet with neighborhood councils to increase police presence in affected areas.
Despite the recent surge, the city saw improvements in several crime categories. Shots-fired calls dropped 14 percent from 2024, with 259 calls compared to 301 the previous year. ShotSpotter activations, which detect gunfire, also declined from 482 to 370.
A ShotSpotter map displays gunfire detection locations in Richmond during 2025.
The year began with Claude Richard III’s fatal shooting at the Triangle Court Apartments in July and continued in September with the killing of Jerry Williams near Lincoln Avenue. November saw two homicides: 20-year-old Griffin Hammond near Potrero Avenue and Carlson Boulevard and 23-year-old Josue Cornejo on Bissell Avenue. In December, Larry Russel Jr. was killed on Macdonald Avenue, and the year ended with the fatal shooting of Romario Raso Garcia at the Hilltop IHOP.
Robberies fell to 251 from 334 in 2024, and vehicle thefts dropped significantly to 863 from 1,139, a decline Simmons partially attributed to automated license plate reader cameras that were operational for most of the year.
However, sexual assaults reached their highest level in five years, with 139 reported victims, and residential burglaries hit a five-year high at 360 homes broken into.
Staffing remains a challenge for the department. While 124 sworn positions are filled out of 147 authorized, only 71 officers are available for patrol and investigations once those in training, on leave, or injured are excluded.
The city's long-awaited community crisis response team, called "Reaching Out with Care and Kindness" or ROCK, is expected to begin service in early February after training throughout January.
Total violent crime fell to 1,208 incidents in 2025 from higher numbers in previous years, while property crimes dropped to 2,691 from 3,216 in 2024.
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