7 Shot Outside High School Graduation in Richmond, Virginia

Two people were fatally shot and several others were injured on Tuesday evening in a shooting outside a theater in Richmond, Va., where a high school graduation ceremony had just taken place, the authorities said.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Rick Edwards, the acting chief of the Richmond Police Department, identified the people who were killed as Shawn Jackson, 18, and his stepfather, Renzo Smith, 36.

A suspect, Amari Ty-Jon Pollard, 19, was arrested on Tuesday evening and was arraigned on two counts of second-degree murder, according to court records. He was being held without bond on Wednesday.

Chief Edwards said the shooting was “targeted” and was related to a dispute that had been going on for more than a year. The authorities were investigating the nature of the dispute, he said.

The shooting took place just before 5:15 p.m. outside the Altria Theater. Chief Edwards said that Mr. Pollard had an “interaction” with Mr. Jackson, then went to his car and returned with a handgun.

When officers inside the venue heard gunshots, they found “multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds,” the chief said at a news conference on Tuesday evening.

The authorities have seized four firearms, one of which was “unrelated” to Tuesday’s shooting, he said.

Five others were shot and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, he said. Others, he said, had gone to hospitals with injuries other than gunshots, including one person who was “hit by a car during the melee.”

Matthew Stanley, a spokesman for Richmond Public Schools, said that the shooting took place in Monroe Park, across the street from the Altria Theater, immediately after a graduation ceremony for students of Huguenot High School. Another ceremony scheduled for Tuesday evening was canceled.

Clips posted to social media appeared to show the aftermath of the shooting. In one, emergency medical workers appeared to be administering CPR to a victim. Students were still wearing their caps and gowns. Other regalia were strewn across the ground.

Jonathan Young, a member of the Richmond City School Board, said he and his colleagues had just finished celebrating some 300 graduating students when he heard about 20 consecutive gunshots that “prompted a mad rush sprint to get back inside the building.”

Emergency medical workers and police officers arrived quickly, he said, adding that he had seen many people who appeared to have been injured in what he described as a “stampede.” Mr. Young said his shock quickly turned to “disgust and to anger.”

A statement posted on the website for the Richmond Public Schools said that all high school graduations had been canceled for the rest of the week, and that schools would be closed on Wednesday.

“I’m just tired of seeing people get shot,” Jason Kamras, the superintendent of Richmond Public Schools, said at the news conference on Tuesday. “Our kids get shot, and I beg of the entire community to stop.”

“Our kids can’t take it,” Mr. Kamras said. “Our teachers can’t take it. Our families can’t take it anymore. I beg of you to stop.”

Christine Hauser contributed reporting.