VA Man Charged with Felony Capital Murder in Shooting of Officers on College Campus

Police have charged a 27-year-old man with multiple counts in the shooting deaths of two Bridgewater College campus officers on Tuesday.

Virginia State Police identified the suspect Tuesday night as Alexander Wyatt Campbell, 27. His last known address is in Ashland, VA. Campbell has been charged with four felonies: two counts of felony capital murder, one count of felony first-degree murder, and one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, WAVY reported.

Bridgewater College President David Bushman identified the slain officers as Campus Police Officer John Painter, 55, and Campus Safety Officer J.J. Jefferson, 48. Bushman said they were close friends known on campus as the “dynamic duo.” Painter joined the campus police department in May 2019 after retiring as chief of the Grottoes Police Department and Jefferson joined the department in August 2018.

“This is a sad and dark day for Bridgewater College. I know we all have so many questions and not many answers. One thing I do know, though, is that we will rally around one another and support each other as we move forward from this day,” Bushman said in a statement after the shooting. “We are all victims, though some much more so than others, and it will be important that we each seek to find comfort and support in the ways most meaningful for us.”