Suspect arrested following shooting at a hookah lounge near Virginia Tech’s main campus that left 1 dead, 4 injured, police say
By Jason Hanna and Melissa Alonso, CNN
A man suspected in a deadly shooting at a hookah lounge near Virginia Tech’s campus in downtown Blacksburg late Friday was taken into custody Saturday, police said.
One person was killed and four others were injured in the shooting.
Jamel Flint, 24, faces a first-degree murder charge in the killing of 18-year-old Isiah O. Robinson, and four counts of attempted first-degree murder as well as a firearm charge, according to a news release from the Blacksburg Police Department.
It’s unclear what led to Flint’s arrest or whether he has an attorney. CNN has reached out to the Virginia Public Defender’s Office for comment.
The arrest comes after Blacksburg police responded Friday to a report of shots fired at the Melody Hookah Lounge at 11:53 p.m., they said.
Of the five people shot, one died, and the others were taken to hospitals, police said. The severity of the patients’ injuries wasn’t known, police said.
One of the injured is a Virginia Tech student, university President Tim Sands said in an online post.
The injured student was “out of surgery, recovering, and seems to be doing well,” university Vice President Frank Shushok Jr. wrote online Saturday afternoon, citing what the student’s family told university officials.
Sands wrote that the university’s “condolences go out to the family and friends of the deceased and we extend our support to those who were injured.”
The campus was deemed secure at 3:18 a.m. Saturday after the shooting prompted a lockdown for several hours, according to university alerts.
While a suspect is in custody, the investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is encouraged to contact Blacksburg police, the department said in its statement.
The lounge is less than a mile from a memorial dedicated to 32 people who were killed in an April 2007 shooting massacre at Virginia Tech. The business is also about a half-mile walk away from Norris Hall, the university’s engineering science and mechanics building where most of the 2007 victims were shot.
Emma Lopus, a Virginia Tech senior, was at her residence a few blocks from the bar when a friend texted her, telling her to lock her doors, she told CNN affiliate WSLS on Saturday.
She then saw at least seven police officers with flashlights in her backyard, she said.
“It’s weird to hear about it happening so close to your house. I work right down the street, like, I live here. So it’s hard,” Lopus told WSLS.
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CNN’s Claudia Dominguez and Aya Elamroussi contributed to this report.
