PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Portsmouth Police Department is sending more police officers to guard public schools after a wave of gun violence has swept through the city.
The department tweeted about the decision Friday morning after six people -- including a child -- were shot in the city on Thursday.
It's also just a week after 21 people were killed in an elementary school shooting down in Uvalde, Texas.
"We are aware of the significant concern about recent gun violence," a spokesperson wrote. "Please be assured that we are actively investigating the incidents & will release more information as it becomes available. We are also providing additional security to local schools by increasing police presence."
Friday morning, officers were sitting outside I.C. Norcom High School as students arrived for the day.
A school division spokesperson said police will also sit outside while children dismiss in the afternoon.
Parents outside I.C. Norcom High school told 13News Now they were happy to see an enhanced police presence.
“It did make me feel safe with the extra officers being on campus,” Catrina Smith said.
Smith is a parent of a soon-to-be graduate of I.C. Norcom. Although she appreciated that additional officers were stationed at the school, she said they could be better used on the streets.
“All the police are out here at the schools," she said. "They need to be out here in the community. The killers are in there eating lunch right now. They’re not upstairs in biology taking a test.”
Smith said she lives in Cavalier Manor and it’s rare to see officers patrolling that area.
“When I left the house this morning and I rode through the community, I didn’t see them out there," she said. "That is where we need them. Because the past few days, the past few weeks, the shootings haven’t happened at the schools.”
Smith, a Portsmouth native, said the violence today looks much different than what she saw growing up.
“They’re getting younger and younger," she said. "They seem more reckless. They don’t have respect for authority. No respect for adults.”
That worries her, as she prepares for her son’s graduation in two weeks.
“I want him to live to graduation," she said. "Some babies were supposed to graduate this year and are supposed to be on that stage, and they’re not, because their life was senselessly taken.”
Another parent said she told her child not to attend school today because of the spike in violence overnight.
She's tired of hearing gunshots at night and learning about someone getting hurt because of it. She said it has pushed her to develop a plan to move out of the city this month.