Police on Monday released a surveillance photo of man dropping a gun on the campus of Virginia State University after allegedly shooting a Petersburg man in the parking lot of VSU’s football stadium after the school’s homecoming game.
Authorities have recovered the weapon and sent it to the state lab for forensic testing, said Chesterfield County police Sgt. Brad Conner.
Conner said the shooting occurred about 8:25 p.m. as people were tailgating just outside the stadium after VSU’s homecoming football game with Bowie State.
The victim, from Petersburg, was with some friends in the stadium parking lot when he was shot and wounded by an unidentified gunman after the game. Conner said it’s unclear whether the victim or his friends were participating in the tailgating festivities.
The victim was not a VSU student, Conner said.
Responding officers found the victim suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound and he was taken to VCU Medical Center, where he is recovering, Conner said. Investigators have conducted an initial interview with the victim, Conner said.
After the shooting, VSU surveillance cameras captured images of the suspected gunman dropping a handgun and leaving campus at Lee Street and Chesterfield Avenue. Police described the suspect as a black male wearing light blue jeans and a white T-shirt with blue sleeves.
VSU locked down the university for a period of time after the shooting. The lockdown was lifted after authorities determined the shooting was an isolated incident and there was not an active shooter on campus.
During VSU’s homecoming celebration four years ago, a VSU student was charged with stabbing another student on campus with a 6-inch blade.
The victim was stabbed on the campus during one of several fights that broke out that evening, prompting officials at that time to lock down the campus. The victim was treated at a hospital and released.
Court papers described the Oct. 16, 2013, incident as a “riot” that began about 5:45 p.m. while a bazaar was being held on campus during the university’s homecoming week.
Kemal Jackson-Hinton, then 22, of Fort Washington, Md., was charged with malicious wounding. But his attorney said after the arrest that his client was not the aggressor and was injured during the melee. Jackson-Hinton was expelled from VSU but the charge against him was dismissed at a court hearing on March 24, 2014, records show.