Parents shot to death in campus dormitory room
More than 100 police officers search for suspect
A mother and father were fatally shot by their son Friday in a dormitory at Central Michigan University, according to campus police, who continued a search for the suspect into nightfall.
The university police department released a statement on the school’s website at 6 p.m. identifying the victims as James Eric Davis Sr., and Diva Jeneen Davis. The statement did not provide details of the crime.
Police identified the suspect as James Eric Davis Jr. More than 100 officers from multiple police agencies were searching for the younger Davis, the campus police said in their evening statement.
The shooting inside the Campbell Hall dormitory happened on the eve of spring break and sparked a lockdown on the campus in Mount Pleasant, Mich., a city about 85 miles from Grand Rapids and 155 miles from Detroit.
“This was a terrible incident, it was an isolated incident, but we had two people that were killed in a residence facility,” Gov. Rick Snyder, R, said at a Friday press conference. “That’s traumatic. To the students, to the parents, to the staff, to the faculty. In this case, the community, because this individual is still at large.”
There were no other injuries in the shooting, according to the school’s website.
Davis had not been spotted by law enforcement, and investigators had not received any calls about sightings, Lt. Larry Klaus, of the Central Michigan University Police Department, said at an afternoon press conference.
“Here’s where we’re at, in regards to apprehension,” Klaus told reporters. “We have not had any of our police assets lay eyes on him. We have not had any calls from the community, saying they’ve seen him.”
Klaus earlier asked members of the community to call 911 if they saw Davis, who was seen running away shortly after the shooting.
Campus police came into contact with “the involved individual” the night before the shooting, and took him to a hospital, Klaus said previously.
“The university responded quickly,” school spokeswoman Sherry Knight said at a press conference Friday. “We had the campus on lockdown. No students, faculty or staff have been injured.”