SWAT teams hit the streets to try to quell Richmond violence

(09-12) 14:09 PDT RICHMOND - Richmond police put SWAT teams on the streets today after two more people were shot, bringing the number of shootings in the city since Tuesday to 11.

The violence, which investigators believe is the product of a gang war, has claimed the lives of three people.

Two people were wounded, one critically, at 10:17 a.m. today when someone fired 30 rounds from a small-caliber pistol at Gertrude Avenue and Filbert Street just across the border from unincorporated North Richmond, police Lt. Mark Gagan said.

Gagan said investigators believe that gangs from northern Richmond and the central district are feuding and that the shootings are connected. Some of the shooters have used high-caliber guns and fired numerous rounds, prompting authorities to roll out SWAT teams for patrols.

The tactical teams will be focusing "on the areas where street violence occurs most," Gagan said.

"There's going to be a lot of (police) presence out there, and not just today," he said. "Last night, they just waited until it was dark (for several of the shootings)."

A total of nine people were shot during five attacks Tuesday. The three victims who died were all men.

Deondrae Holden, 21, was shot at numerous times while driving on the Richmond Parkway at Hensley Street around 3 p.m. He continued a mile and a half before he died in the car.

Jewell Mayweather, Jr., 23, was killed a little after 8 p.m. at First Street and MacDonald Avenue. Another person was critically wounded in that shooting, police said.

Nineteen-year-old Dewayne Moore was killed around 8:30 p.m. in a shooting at 37th Street and Wall Avenue in south Richmond. Three other people were wounded.

Victims survived two other shootings Tuesday, the first at 9:45 a.m. on Filbert Street and the second at 10:55 p.m. at 20th Street and Gaynor Avenue.

One of those shot this morning was hit in the head, Gagan said. The other victim was shot in the arm and is expected to recover.

Despite the uptick in violence, Richmond's homicide total is well below what it was last year. Nineteen people have been killed in the city in 2007; last year at this time the total was 28.