A young man suspected in connection with the shooting of five people on Saturday on the campus of Virginia State University (VSU) hid in a dormitory closet for more than 14 hours before being found and arrested, according to authorities. The suspect – identified as 19-year-old Camron Harris – was found in Seward Hall on VSU’s campus at 4pm, Lt James Lamb of the local police said, according to the Virginia news outlet WTVR. The shooting occurred at about 1.30am on Saturday.
Harris, who is not a student enrolled at the university, was taken to the Chesterfield county jail to be booked on four counts each of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The Henrico, Virginia, resident was being held without bond, and police said additional charges may be filed against him. Chesterfield county police said officers discovered five people with gunshot wounds when they arrived on scene outside campus dormitories.
The five victims were transported to local hospitals, with one victim reported to be experiencing life-threatening wounds and in a critical condition. The other four victims had non-life threatening wounds, according to police. At least one of those victims, a 20-year-old, was confirmed to be a student.
Police did not immediately release details about a possible motive, saying the investigation remained ongoing. VSU initially said in a statement the shooting involved “multiple suspects”. The campus was temporarily put on lockdown.
VSU later said that authorities did not believe there was any additional, immediate threat to the safety of the school community after the mass shooting. Many students on Saturday had just completed the university’s “New Trojans Experience” for incoming students, an event alluding to the nickname for the school’s athletic teams. As of Sunday morning, there had been more than 300 mass shootings reported across the US so far for the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The archive, a non-partisan reference resource, defines mass shootings as cases in which at least four victims are wounded or killed. The US has perennially registered high numbers of mass shootings, with a considerable portion of those occurring at school and university campuses or activities. Those grim numbers have prompted calls for more substantial federal gun control, though Congress over the years has not implemented such restrictions.
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