Shots fired near campus last Monday morning
VCU Police arrested 18-year-old Felix C. Thompson Jr. of Henrico County following reports of shots being fired near the 400 block of N. Harrison Street on Aug. 18.
Austin Walker
Spectrum editor
VCU Police arrested 18-year-old Felix C. Thompson Jr. of Henrico County following reports of shots being fired near the 400 block of N. Harrison Street on Aug. 18.
At approximately 3:13 a.m., Thompson fired multiple shots into the air with his handgun. He was charged with brandishing a firearm and willfully discharging a firearm in public.
Virginia law defines brandishing a firearm as holding it “in such a manner as to reasonably induce fear in the mind of another or hold a firearm or any air or gas operated weapon in a public place in such a manner as to reasonably induce fear in the mind of another being shot or injured.”
Both are Class 1 misdemeanors, punishable by up to one year in prison alongside heavy fines.
“According to witnesses, the suspects were two white males and one black male leaving the area in a red Mini Cooper heading east on Grace Street in the 900 block,” VCU Alert said in a statement.
The shooting occurred the day before classes began for students at VCU. Thompson is not a student at the university, but VCU police responded due to the incident’s close proximity to the campus.
