Police investigate why student gunned down his parents

Investigators are trying to figure out why a Central Michigan University student charged with fatally shooting his parents acted so strangely the day before the killings that he was taken to a hospital.

The shooting happened Friday after James Eric Davis Jr.’s parents picked him up from that hospital and brought him to his dorm to pack up for spring break.

University police chief Bill Yeagley said the 19-year-old can be seen on video in the dorm’s parking lot with the gun before he entered the residence hall where his parents were shot around 8:30 a.m.

Davis Jr. has been charged with two counts of murder and a weapons charge in the shootings of his father, Eric Davis Sr., and mother, Diva Davis, university spokesperson Heather Smith said.

Davis Sr. was a part-time police officer in Bellwood, Ill., and Yeagley said the gun used by Davis Jr. belonged to his father.

At a news conference Saturday, Yeagley declined to say whether drugs were found in Davis Jr.’s system.

Davis Jr. was initially taken to a hospital after his arrest early Saturday, but will be moved to a jail once he’s discharged.

It was not immediately clear when he will make his first court appearance.

Authorities said Davis Jr. fled after the shootings, prompting an intensive manhunt in the area.

He was arrested without incident shortly after midnight when someone aboard a train spotted a person along railroad tracks in Mount Pleasant and called police, Yeagley said.

The shooting occurred on a day when parents were arriving to pick up students at the university for the beginning of a weeklong spring break.

University president George E. Ross said the shooting had left the campus and surrounding community traumatized.

“There were thousands of people who were sheltering in place yesterday and they will be dealing with this for the rest of their lives,” he said.