A student suspected of killing his parents at a Central Michigan University dormitory used a gun that was registered to his father, authorities said Saturday.
James Eric Davis Jr., 19, was arrested soon after midnight Saturday after a daylong search that included more than 100 police officers, authorities said.
Friday’s shooting at Campbell Hall happened as parents arrived on campus to pick up students for the beginning of a weeklong spring break.
The university identified the dead as Davis’ mother Diva Davis and father James Davis Sr., a part-time police officer in the Chicago suburb of Bellwood. The shooting occurred around 8:30 a.m. at a residence hall at Central Michigan, which is about 70 miles north of Lansing.
Central Michigan University police Chief Bill Yeagley said the gun used in the shooting belonged to Davis Sr. He would not say whether the father had brought the gun to campus when picking up his son, but noted that Davis Jr. was seen on video in the dorm’s parking lot with the gun before going into the building where his parents were shot.
After the shooting, police released a photo of Davis and urged the public to call 911 if they saw him but also warned that he shouldn’t be confronted. Hours after a campus lockdown, police started a “slow, methodical removal” of staff and students who were ordered to take shelter in campus buildings, Lt. Larry Klaus said, adding that he “should be considered armed and dangerous.”
The search focused on Mount Pleasant neighborhoods near campus. Officers knocked on doors and checked possible hiding places, such as yards and porches. In the surrounding community, students and staff in the Mount Pleasant school district were told not to leave nine buildings.
The Davis family is from Plainfield, Ill., about 35 miles southwest of Chicago. Davis Jr. graduated from Central High School in 2016, said Tom Hernandez, a spokesman for Plainfield School District 202.
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