Virginia State University shooting suspect arrested after police find him hiding in a dorm closet
Police arrested a 19-year-old man Saturday in connection with an overnight shooting at Virginia State University that left five people wounded, saying they found him hiding in a dormitory closet after a campus-wide search.
Camron Harris, of Henrico, Virginia, is not a student at the university, and four of the five people injured are also not students, Chesterfield County Police said in a statement. The victims, whose names have not been released, range in age from 17 to 23. One of them, a 20-year-old student, has been released from the hospital, authorities said.
Harris faces eight felony warrants, including charges of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Police have not disclosed a possible motive, and it was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.
The shooting happened just after 1:30 a.m. near the university's Quad Annexes, outside campus dormitories, as students were preparing for the start of a new academic year. Residence halls opened a week ago, classes resume Monday, and many incoming students had just completed the university's "New Trojans Experience" orientation.
The university earlier said officers were searching for multiple suspects, but police provided no additional information Saturday evening about whether others remained at large. A campus lockdown was lifted after authorities determined there was no immediate threat to the community.
Virginia State University, a historically Black university in Ettrick, about 24 miles south of Richmond, has roughly 5,700 students, most of them undergraduates. It was the first fully state-supported four-year college for Black Americans and has worked in recent years to balance growth and safety with its historic character.
The violence weighed heavily on the campus community just as students returned. Arthur Fridrich, the university's former director of distance education, lives near campus and visits regularly. "To start a new year with this event is very tragic," he said. "It casts a shadow in the minds of all students, and for some it will be difficult to rid their minds of this term. For those that were shot, my heart bleeds. I hope that they all mend and somehow do not let this event define their lives."
The university said it recognized the concern the shooting caused among students, parents, alumni, and the broader VSU community, and pledged that student safety remains its highest priority. A heavy law enforcement presence remained on campus Saturday morning, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hanover County Sheriff's Office.