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Friday night, there was a shooting at a hookah lounge near the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg. Four people were hurt, and one person died.
Around 11:50 p.m., shots were fired at the Melody Hookah Bar in downtown Blacksburg, so the police went there. The dead man was named by police as Isiah O. Robinson, who was 18 years old and from Roanoke.
They didn’t name the people who were hurt or say how bad their injuries were.
Local TV stations said the person who died was a high school student from Roanoke, but police and school officials wouldn’t confirm that Saturday afternoon.
Roanoke City Public Schools officials posted on Facebook that they were sad about “the death of a member of our Patrick Henry High School family,” but they didn’t say anything about the shooting or how the person who died was related to the school.
Officials at Virginia Tech confirmed that one of the people hurt was a student there.
Frank Shushok Jr., vice president for student affairs, said in a statement on Saturday, “We’ve talked to his family, and they say their son is out of surgery, recovering, and seems to be doing well.” “We will continue to protect the student’s privacy, and we are thankful for all the care and support that has been shown to him.”
On Saturday night, police said they had gotten a warrant to charge a man with murder in Robinson’s death. The suspect was also charged with four counts of trying to kill someone, police said.
The suspect is Jamel D. Flint, who is 24 years old and lives in Roanoke.
In a tweet sent out Saturday night, the town of Blacksburg said that Flint had been arrested in Roanoke.
The police did not say why the shooting happened.
The Blacksburg Police Department said earlier Saturday, “This is still a complicated, ongoing case that has changed to a murder investigation.” “Several police departments are helping in the area and following up on leads.”
Early Saturday morning, the campus was put on lockdown. Students were told to “stay inside” and “lock doors.” At 3:15 a.m., the lockdown was lifted, but students were told to stay away from downtown.
Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement, “Our condolences go out to the family and friends of those who died, and we offer our support to those who were hurt.” “Things like this are hard and scary for all of us. Please take care of yourself, and if you need help, ask for it. Our community is strong, and that strength comes from the fact that we really care about each other.”
In a statement posted online Saturday, the hookah bar said, “We are deeply saddened and hurt by what happened Friday night. Our condolences go out to the families and friends of everyone who was hurt.” As time goes on, we will add more safety precautions and rules.
In Virginia, you must be at least 21 years old to smoke a hookah.
Before the shooting, the bar’s website said that it would be closed from 8 to 11 p.m. for a private party, but that it would be open again after that.
Near the southeast corner of Virginia Tech, where one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history happened, was where the shooting happened. On April 16, 2007, a college freshman killed 32 people and himself in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. It was replaced as the deadliest mass shooting in the country by the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016 and the shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas in 2017.
The shooting in Blacksburg is the most recent thing to happen in Virginia this week. On Tuesday, two campus police officers at Bridgewater College were killed while investigating a report of a “suspicious man” near a classroom building. Alexander Wyatt Campbell, 27, of Ashland, Va., has been named as the suspect in the deaths of campus police officer John Painter, 55, and campus safety officer Vashon “J.J.” Jefferson, 48. Campbell, a former student, is charged with capital murder. The painter was a campus police officer and Jefferson was a campus safety officer.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) wrote on Twitter that his heart went out to “the victims and the community of Blacksburg, which is already scarred by the scourge of gun violence.”
Mark R. Warner, the state’s other senator, is a Democrat. He tweeted, “So sad to hear of another act of gun violence in the Commonwealth this week.”
Anyone who knows anything about the shooting at the hookah bar should call the Blacksburg Police Department at 540-443-1400 or call 540-961-1819 to report it anonymously.
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