Armed Man On Roof Overlooking General Lee Statue Turns Out To Be Richmond Cop

A 38-year-old white man was, allegedly, standing on a roof overlooking the statue of General Lee, Saturday (June 20), armed with a handgun.

The Hill reported that Riley O’Shaughnessy, who is a police officer working for the Richmond International Airport Police Department, was arrested “just outside the building.”

The Richmond Police Department received a call at approximately 6:30 a.m. from someone who was standing close to the monument. The caller reported seeing someone on a rooftop surveilling the area around the statue and, when the first officer arrived at the scene, they were told that the individual in question was “on the roof with a firearm.”

The police told people to stay away from the area even after they had arrested O’Shaughnessy so they could conduct a more thorough search of the building.

Officer O'Shaughnessy was only charged with misdemeanor trespassing. The gun he was carrying was legal according to police. At the time of arrest, O’Shaughnessey was not carrying any police identification.

At the time of this reporting, it isn’t known what O’Shaughnessy’s intentions were for being up on that roof with his firearm. However, recent events surrounding the statue have put many on edge.

Two weeks after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said that they would take the statue down, a lawsuit was brought against the state by one William Gregory, whose family are descendants of the people who gave the land to the government for the statue’s placement.

Circuit Judge Bradley Cavedo, according to The Hill, gave an injunction against the statue's removal even though he said that Gregory’s suit didn’t have the proper merit. Cavedo gave Gregory three weeks to file another lawsuit and noted that his injunction would stand “indefinitely."