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Police release timeline of CMU campus shooting

Max Cobb
/
WCMU

Police had multiple interactions with James Davis Jr., in the hours leading up to him allegedly shooting and killing his parents on the campus of Central Michigan University on Friday.

Here’s what we’ve learned about the timeline leading up to Friday’s shooting.

Thursday 9:30 pm: James Davis Jr., a 19-year-old CMU sophomore, tells campus police he fears for his life and was running from someone who intended to kill him.

“We were not able to see any risk for anyone,” said campus police chief Bill Yeagley. “This other person that Mr. Davis identified did not pose any risk to Davis or anyone else.”

Credit Mount Pleasant Police Department

Yeagley noted that Davis seemed unreasonable and wasn’t making much sense. Officers let Davis go after he explained his parents would be picking him up in the morning.

Friday 1:45 am: CMU Police officers again encounter James Davis Jr., outside his room in Campbell Hall. Davis was described as acting “unreasonable and illogical.”

At that point, Yeagley says, officers called Davis’ mother.

“The officer said we had a suspicion this might be drugs, does he have a drug history?” Yeagley said. “The mother said she too was concerned it might be drugs.”

Yeagley says officers then drove Davis to a local hospital to get him checked out.

Friday 8:00 am: Davis Jr. is released from the hospital to his parents, James Sr. and Diva Davis.  They return to the Campbell Residence Hall, to help him pack his belongings.

Friday 8:30 am: Davis Jr. leaves his fourth-floor dorm room and goes to his parent's vehicle. He then returns his room, where his parents are waiting, with a gun.

“What we know for sure,” Yeagley said, ‘is that the gun was registered to his father and for sure he came from the parking lot into our residence hall with the gun and the father was upstairs at that time.”

Police say it was at that point Davis shot and killed his parents. The weapon was registered to James Davis Sr., who was a part-time police officer in Bellwood, Ill.

After the shooting, Yeagley says Davis fled the scene, leaving his father’s gun, and followed train tracks north through campus. University officials quickly put the campus on lockdown mode.

Friday 10:43 am: Central Michigan University releases a description of the suspect, and urges all students and staff to continue to shelter in place. Parents wanting more information about their children are told to go to the Comfort Inn, just south of CMU’s campus.

Credit Max Cobb / WCMU
/
WCMU

Friday 2:56 pm: As the manhunt for Davis continues, uniformed officers begin escorting students and staff out of buildings on campus.

Saturday 12:10 am: The operator of a train passing through the north end of campus spots a suspicious person near the railroad tracks, and calls campus police.

Yeagley says CMU police responded quickly and had Davis in custody within minutes of the call.

When officers found Davis Yeagley says he was suffering from hypothermia and quote “Life was not making sense to him at that moment.”

Davis is hospitalized and placed under armed guard.

Saturday 10:30 am: Campus officials speak during a press conference about the shooting, releasing details of the timeline, and offering their condolences to the Davis family.

The university also said that counseling services would be available to all students and staff.

Davis, meanwhile, is facing two charges of open murder and a felony firearms charge.