Fight disrupts John Marshall High School graduation ceremony; 4 detained by police
Graduation proceedings for the John Marshall High School class of 2026 were disrupted on Wednesday when a fight broke out in the middle of the ceremony, followed by additional fights outside the Siegel Center after the ceremony.
Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras said the ceremony was able to be finished, and other school ceremonies will proceed as scheduled, with additional security on site.
In 2023 a graduation ceremony for another RPS school, Huguenot High, ended in tragedy when a graduate and his step father were shot outside the event. Noting that, Kamras and other officials said they wanted to emphasize that no guns were found, no shots were fired and the situation was handled according to plan.
“Obviously this was an extremely disappointing disruption,” Kamras said. “I want to be clear that all the safety protocols that were in place went as expected.”
VCU Police Major Nicole Dailey said one person was detained in conjunction with the first fight, and three others were detained after separate altercations broke out after the ceremony. She said she could not comment further on what caused the fight or what the connections were between individuals involved, stating that it is all part of an ongoing investigation.
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards made a plea to the community to not escalate the conflict.
“We're asking members of our community … to understand that as bad as today is, we know how bad it has been in the past,” he said. “We don't want to see this retaliation. We're going to be highly present. We're going to have zero tolerance.”
The graduation was worked by VCU Police, Richmond Police and RMC Events, in addition to the RPS Care and Safety team.
The day was a somber one to begin with, as John Marshall was honoring Zion Terry, who was supposed to graduate on Wednesday but was shot earlier this year. His younger sister, Sadie – another RPS student – was also shot and died a few days later.
Daniel Payne
School Board members in attendance wanted to make sure the positive stories of the graduation were told alongside the fight.
“This is an isolated incident between a group of people and should not take away from the work and dedication that these students have brought to come to this moment,” Board Chair Shavonda Fernandez said.
Kamras dyed his hair blue, John Marshall’s color, for the ceremony to celebrate the school achieving a 100% graduation rate this year.
“I also want to make a plea to everyone attending graduations,” Kamras said. “Whatever acrimony, whatever concerns you may have with anybody in the community, leave that at home or don't come to graduations. Our celebrations need to be exactly that: celebrations.
“Our young people deserve this moment of joy, and that is what we plan to give them.”
Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org and Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org. VCU is a sponsor of The Richmonder but was not allowed to influence or review this story.
