Multiple RPS officials facing lawsuits after last year’s deadly graduation shooting

RICHMOND Va. (WRIC) — Several former and current Richmond Public Schools (RPS) officials are facing lawsuits filed by the mother and widow of the two Huguenot High School graduation shooting victims.

According to court documents, Tameeka Jackson-Smith has filed two federal lawsuits seeking over $26 million dollars in damages .

Jackson-Smith lost both her son, 18-year-old Shawn Jackson, and her husband, 36-year-old Renzo Smith, in a shooting that took place outside of the Altria Theater after Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony on June 6, 2023.

Jackson was shot and killed by Amari Pollard, who was 19 years old at the time. It is not known at this time who shot and killed Smith.

8News legal expert Russ Stone explained that lawsuits of this nature aren’t unheard of. In this case especially, he explained it was not surprising following the trial, in which Pollard pled guilty to the murder of Shawn Jackson.

“The only question is going to be, ‘Did the schools have that duty of care?’ And ‘did they breach that duty of care?’” Stone said.

Members of the Richmond School Board, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras, former Huguenot Principal Robert Gilstrap, former Huguenot Assistant Principal Kevin Olds and Huguenot guidance counselor Monique Harris are all named as defendants in the suit.

Jackson-Smith claims there were failures on the school system’s part on multiple fronts, from not providing adequate security at the ceremony to having prior knowledge of safety issues involving Shawn Jackson.

Page 16 of one of the complaints reads, “defendant Harris and others had information regarding threats to Shawn Jackson’s life but did not share that information to determine needs or preparation of a threat assessment to protect him.”

Jackson-Smith is seeking over $15 million for her son’s death and $11 million for her husband’s. She is looking for a trial by jury, but Stone explained that, most of the time, these types of cases end up getting settled.

“I would think in the next couple of days, the defendants, the schools, are going to have their lawyers look at it, they’ll start making decisions as to whether or not this is the kind of case we want to defend by going to trial, or do we want to reach out to the plaintiffs and say, ‘Let’s see if we can work out some kind of a settlement,’” Stone said.

8News has reached out to the attorneys representing Jackson-Smith for comment and has not heard back. In response to the lawsuits, a spokesperson from Richmond Public Schools told 8News the school district has “no comment at this time.”

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