Florence McCrea, a 56-year-old Black mother of four, was fatally shot while answering a knock at her apartment door on January 25, 2026. The incident occurred at about 11:17 p.m. in the 1500 block of North 21st Street in Richmond. Officers who responded to a report of a person shot found McCrea unresponsive and she was pronounced dead at the scene; the medical examiner later attributed her death to an apparent gunshot wound.

The killing was the city’s first homicide of 2026 and left McCrea’s family and neighbors stunned. The Richmond Police Department’s Major Crimes unit interviewed residents of the building and appealed for the public’s help in identifying whoever was responsible. As of early February 2026, no arrests or public identifications of suspects have been announced and the investigation is ongoing.

Did anyone in the neighborhood see activity near the 1500 block of North 21st Street that night or have information that could help investigators?