Police arrested and charged a Virginia State University student who turned herself in after an alleged suspect in Saturday’s shooting hid in her dormitory closet on campus.
Ja’niah Johnson, 19, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was charged with obstruction and being an accessory to the suspected shooter. Camron Harris, 19, of Henrico, Virginia, was arrested hours after he committed the university shooting, which left five people injured.
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Johnson surrendered herself to authorities after Chesterfield County police contacted her this week. She appeared in court and was released on her own recognizance, meaning she left jail without paying bail in exchange for promising to return to court for all future hearings.
Harris was not a student or one of the injured people, according to police. It remains unclear how Johnson, who was a student, was connected to Harris. His motive for the shooting is also unknown.
After his arrest, Harris was charged with four counts of malicious wounding and four counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Additional charges may be filed, police said. He is being held without bond at the Chesterfield County Jail.
Among the five wounded victims, who ranged in age between 17 and 23, were four nonstudents and one student. A 21-year-old man, one of the nonstudents, remains in critical condition. Meanwhile, the 20-year-old student was released from the hospital.
The names of the victims have not been released.
The university previously said there were multiple shooters involved in the incident, but officials have not provided any information about additional armed suspects since then. The campus lockdown was subsequently lifted once police determined there was no immediate threat to the campus community.
SUSPECT ARRESTED IN VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY SHOOTING THAT LEFT FIVE INJURED, ONE CRITICALLY
The shooting occurred around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, two days before the fall semester was scheduled to start. Residence halls were open for a week before the shooting for freshman orientation.
Virginia State University, a historically black land-grant university founded in 1882, is located in Petersburg, Virginia, about 24 miles south of Richmond. The university has roughly 5,700 total students, most of whom are undergraduates.
