VCU Safety Ambassador Denise Smith, a mother of three, was stationed in the West Main Street parking deck less than a block from the scene of the shooting that erupted outside the Altria Theater after the Huguenot High School graduation on June 6, 2023. It was there she encountered Amari Pollard, the man who fatally shot new graduate Shawn Jackson.
MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH
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A screenshot from surveillance video shows Denise Smith confront Amari Pollard in the VCU parking deck. Pollard’s gun, circled, is on the ground between them.
VCU Safety Ambassador Denise Smith would talk Amari Pollard out of suicide, persuade him to drop his weapon and keep him in the parking deck until police arrived — all while unarmed and using nothing but her words.
Warning: Graphic Content The Times-Dispatch obtained this video from the Richmond Circuit Court on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. It was prepared by the FBI in the case against Amari Pollard, who was accused in the double fatal shooting outside the Altria Theater in June 2023. The Times-Dispatch is not releasing a portion of the video showing medical personnel working to resuscitate one of the victims.
Officials on Thursday released a video prepared by the FBI showing the moments before and after the shooting outside the Altria Theater in June. VCU Security Ambassador Denise Smith.
VCU Safety Ambassador Denise Smith speaks to members of the media on Wednesday. After Amari Pollard’s arrest on June 6, 2023, she went home, picked up her son and took him to his Little League baseball game. The next day, she went back to the parking deck where she encountered Pollard and worked another graduation shift.
VCU Safety Ambassador Denise Smith, a mother of three, was stationed in the West Main Street parking deck less than a block from the scene of the shooting that erupted outside the Altria Theater after the Huguenot High School graduation on June 6, 2023. It was there she encountered Amari Pollard, the man who fatally shot new graduate Shawn Jackson.
A screenshot from surveillance video shows Denise Smith confront Amari Pollard in the VCU parking deck. Pollard’s gun, circled, is on the ground between them.
VCU Safety Ambassador Denise Smith speaks to members of the media on Wednesday. After Amari Pollard’s arrest on June 6, 2023, she went home, picked up her son and took him to his Little League baseball game. The next day, she went back to the parking deck where she encountered Pollard and worked another graduation shift.
VCU Safety Ambassador Denise Smith would talk Amari Pollard out of suicide, persuade him to drop his weapon and keep him in the parking deck until police arrived — all while unarmed and using nothing but her words.
