‘Something Went Wrong Somewhere’: People Who Knew Teen Suspected of Killing His Parents Speak Out

Friends and neighbors of the Chicago teen accused of killing his parents in a campus shooting at Central Michigan University on Friday say they’re in shock and disbelief. New reports also allege the teen thought someone was trying to kill him.

“Just from knowing him for a brief time, I didn’t think that would happen,” said Logan Ludy, who played high school basketball with suspected shooter James Davis Jr. “It’s unbelievable.”

Davis was taken into custody early Saturday, March 3, after authorities say he shot and killed two people in a Central Michigan University dorm before fleeing campus. The 19-year-old was apprehended by police following an intensive daylong search that involved more than 100 officers, some of whom were heavily armed and sporting camouflage, the Associated Press reported.

Davis’ parents, James Eric Davis, Sr. and Diva Davis, were later listed as victims in the fatal shooting. AP reported that Davis used a gun registered to his father in the attack. At a morning news conference, CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley said surveillance footage showed the suspect carrying the gun in from the parking lot.

“It’s unbelievable to tell you the truth,” Ludy told local station Fox 2. “I didn’t know something like that could happen to somebody I knew.” Kendall Gilde, who met Davis in the fourth grade, said the suspect has “always been a good kid.”

Neighbors of the family described Diva Davis as a “wonderful mother” who worked as a flight attendant, and James Davis as a retired military member who served as a part-time police officer for the last 20 years. Jordan Murphy, who worked alongside Davis, Sr. for years as a recruiter in the Illinois Army National Guard, called the Davises “loving, ever-present parents, who doted on their children.”

“This is so incredibly out of character,” Murphy wrote in a Facebook post. “Something went wrong somewhere.”

Friends of the teen were also left in disbelief. Some expressed their thoughts on Twitter.

According to the Central Michigan University’s police chief Bill Yeagley, something was, in fact, strange about Davis Jr.’s behavior the day before the murders.

Yeagley said the teen was acting strangely the day before the shooting and told a residence hall officer someone was trying to kill him.

The teen appeared terrified Thursday morning when he told the residence hall officer that someone with a gun “was out to hurt him.”

Yeagley added that when officers determined that person posed no threat, Davis said he was fine and was leaving campus Friday for spring break.

Yeagley said that officers called Davis’ parents and then took Davis to a hospital for an evaluation Thursday afternoon after he was seen in a dormitory hallway with his suitcases, again acting strangely. It was initially reported that the hospitalization was drug-related.

Davis allegedly shot his parents after they picked him up from that hospital Friday morning.

Associated Press contributed to this story.

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