Instagram Messages Tie 19-Year-Old Camron Harris to 5-Person VSU Shooting

Q: What drew an outsider to a college campus at 1:30 a.m. to unleash gunfire on newly returning students?

It is not yet known. Investigators have not announced a motive, and the available facts do not explain why Camron Harris, a 19-year-old non-student from Henrico, came to Virginia State University around 1:30 a.m. What is clear is that the shooting happened outside residence halls near the Quad Annexes as students were returning for the academic year, a time when campuses often draw guests, visitors and off-campus crowds. Police have said multiple suspects were involved, suggesting this may not have been a random lone-wolf attack but possibly a dispute, targeted encounter or conflict that spilled onto campus. That remains unconfirmed. The victim profile also points investigators toward that possibility. Only one of the five people shot was a VSU student; the others, ages 17 to 23, were not students, according to police and local reporting. That raises the possibility that the violence was connected to people who were on campus but not part of the university community, rather than aimed broadly at students as a group. Authorities found Harris hiding in a closet in Seward Hall roughly 14 hours later and arrested him on eight felony warrants, including malicious wounding and firearm charges. He is being held without bond, and police have said more charges could follow. They are still searching for other suspects and asking for tips, which indicates the case is incomplete and the motive question remains open.

3 articles · Updated · CBS 6 News Richmond WTVR · Aug 17

Court documents show Camron Harris’s Instagram account sent messages after the 1:30 a.m. Virginia State University shooting saying “It was us” and “We js got the shootin.”
Police said the messages fit witness accounts that Harris, 19, threatened to return and shoot after a feud and verbal argument, while a phone ping and an Instagram story placed him on campus minutes before gunfire.
Officers arrested Harris more than 14 hours later in a dorm closet, where he acknowledged the account was his; detectives also found gun photos on his phone matching images sent in the chat, though no firearm was recovered.
Harris is jailed without bond on eight felony warrants, and police said more charges are possible as one 21-year-old man remains in critical condition after five people were shot.