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James Flint Arrested In Virginia Tech Hookah Lounge Shooting

James Flint has been arrested in connection to the Virginia Tech hookah lounge shooting that left one person dead. According to police reports James Flint would open fire at the Virginia Tech hookah lounge Melody Hookah Lounge in Blacksburg Virginia that left one person dead and four others injured. James Flint is now facing murder charges in the death of Isiah O. Robinson, as well as four counts of attempted murder and one count of use of a firearm while committing or attempting to commit murder for the remaining four victims.

James Flint Other News

Police in Virginia say the suspect accused of murdering one person and wounding four others in a shooting at a hookah lounge in Blacksburg late Friday night has been arrested.

The suspect, identified as Jamel Flint, 24, of Roanoke, was apprehended Saturday following a manhunt, FOX station WFXR-TV of Roanoke reported. Details about the arrest were not immediately available.

Authorities previously said they believed James Flint fired the shots at downtown Blacksburg’s Melody Hookah Lounge, just a short walk from Virginia Tech’s campus.

Blacksburg police obtained six felony warrants for Flint’s arrest, authorities added in a statement.

James Flint faces charges of first-degree murder in the death of Isiah O. Robinson, 18, who was a student at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, as well as four counts of first-degree attempted murder and one count of use of a firearm while committing or attempting to commit murder for the remaining four victims, authorities said.

One of the four wounded victims is a student at Virginia Tech and was recovering, according to Frank Shushok Jr., vice president for student affairs at Virginia Tech.

“We have been in contact with his family, and they report their son is out of surgery, recovering, and seems to be doing well,” Shushok said in a statement, according to Charlottesville’s WVIR-TV. “We continue to respect the privacy of the student, and we are grateful for the outpouring of care and support directed to him.”

Blacksburg police asked that anyone with information about the shooting contact them at 540-443-1400. Anonymous phone calls can be made to the Blacksburg Police Tip Line at 540-961-1819 or by emailing [email protected].

https://www.foxnews.com/us/police-id-suspect-accused-of-hookah-lounge-murder-near-virginia-tech

James Flint Videos

James Flint Other News

A late-night shooting Friday at a hookah lounge near the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg leftone person dead and four injured, police said.

About 11:50 p.m., police responded to a report of shots fired at the Melody Hookah Bar in downtown Blacksburg. Police identified the slain man as Isiah O. Robinson, 18, of Roanoke.

They did not release names of the wounded or specify the extent of the injuries.

Local television stations reported that the person killed was a Roanoke high school student, but police and school officials declined to confirm that Saturday afternoon.

On Facebook, Roanoke City Public Schools officials expressed sadness at “the death of a member of our Patrick Henry High School family,” but the statement did not mention the shooting or say how the person who died was connected to the school.

Virginia Tech officials confirmed that a student there was among those injured.

“We have been in contact with his family, and they report their son is out of surgery, recovering, and seems to be doing well,” Frank Shushok Jr., vice president for student affairs, said in a statement Saturday. “We continue to respect the privacy of the student, and we are grateful for the outpouring of care and support directed to him.”

Police said Saturday night that they had obtained warrants charging a man with murder in the death of Robinson. The warrants also charged the suspect with four counts of attempted murder, police said.

The suspect was identified by Blacksburg police as Jamel Flint, 24, of Roanoke.

The town of Blacksburg said in a tweet late Saturday that James Flint had been taken into custody in Roanoke.

Officials did not provide a motive for the shooting.

“This incident continues to be a complex, ongoing case that has shifted to a homicide investigation,” the Blacksburg Police Department said earlier Saturday. “Multiple law enforcement agencies are assisting in the area and following up on leads.”

The campus was placed on lockdown early Saturday, and students were told to “stay inside” and to “secure doors.” The lockdown was rescinded about 3:15 a.m., but students were told to avoid downtown.

“Our condolences go out to the family and friends of the deceased and we extend our support to those who were injured,” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement. “Events like this are difficult and unsettling to all of us. Please care for yourself and seek assistance if you need it. … Our community is strong, and our strength is derived from our genuine care and concern for one another.”

The hookah bar, in a statement posted online Saturday, said: “We are deeply hurt and devastated of what happened Friday night, our condolences go to the families and friends of everyone who were affected. Moving forward we will add more precautions and regulations in place.”

In Virginia, individuals have to be at least 21 to smoke hookah.

Ahead of the shooting, on its website, the bar had posted a notice that it would be closed for a private party from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. but would open to the public again afterward.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/02/05/shots-reported-inblacksburg-va/

Bronwyn Meeks Pleads Guilty In Bizarre Murder

Bronwyn Meeks is a 22 year old woman from Virginia who just plead host to a series of charges including murder. According to court documents Bronwyn Meeks, Dominic Samuels and Brennan Thomas would kidnap the victim Dylan D. Whetzel who was oddly brought to McDonald;s for what Bronwyn dubbed his last meal. Dylan was then brought to a remote area in Virginia where he was shot multiple times in the head. The trio would then use an ax to chop up the victims body before being placed in trash bags and scattered around the area. Apparently the reason behind the murders is that the victim had approached Bronwyn Meeks about selling drugs to a friend who had recently overdosed. Also at hand was that Bronwyn Meeks was worried about going back to jail for a dirty urine screen (drug test) and told a friend if she was going back to jail it might as well be for something big. Brownyn Meeks has yet to be sentenced and Dominic Samuels and Brennan Thomas are yet to go on trial.

Bronwyn Meeks More News

A young Spotsylvania County woman pleaded guilty to more than 30 charges Friday for her role in the slaying and dismemberment of a 20-year-old Stafford County man last year.

Bronwyn C. Meeks, 22, was convicted of offenses that include first-degree murder, murder by mob, abduction, concealing and defiling a dead body and multiple counts of conspiracy and firearms-related offenses.

The charges stem from the slaying of Dylan D. Whetzel of Stafford, who was shot at least five times on Jan. 31, 2021. His remains were chopped up and discarded in rural Spotsylvania in four large trash bags.

Special prosecutor David Sands gave a lengthy recitation of the evidence Friday in Spotsylvania Circuit Court, but it remains unclear why Whetzel was targeted.

A sentencing date for Meeks will be set at a later date. Her plea agreement calls for her to receive an active sentence of between 16 and 54 years in prison.

Bronwyn Meeks had been scheduled for an arraignment Friday, but instead decided to take the plea agreement.

Her codefendants, Dominic Samuels, 19, and Brennan Thomas, also 19, had their trial dates set Friday. Samuels is scheduled for a five-day jury trial that would start on Aug. 15, while a multi-day trial for Thomas is set to begin Nov. 29.

Thomas’ attorney, Jim Ilijevich, tried Friday to get Thomas released on bond. Judge Ricardo Rigual soundly rejected that request.

According to Sands, Meeks and Samuels were drug dealers who were romantically involved. Thomas was a friend of Samuels and attended the same high school.

Sands referred to what sounded like a relatively minor conflict between Meeks and Whetzel in which Whetzel told her to stop selling drugs to one of his friends. That friend had overdosed on drugs he obtained from Meeks, but survived, the prosecutor said.

Sands, who meticulously went through a series of cellphone trackings, text messages and pictures that he said connected the group to the crimes, said Meeks was also upset about a pending drug test that she expected to fail. In one text, she told someone that if she was going back to jail, she was going to “make it worth my while.”

The prosecutor said that Bronwyn Meeks made arrangements to pick up Whetzel in North Stafford under the guise of going to a party. She and her codefendants drove Whetzel to a McDonald’s for what Meeks described in a text as his “last meal,” Sands said.

The group ended up in the area of Pamunkey and Finney roads in western Spotsylvania, where Sands said Whetzel was pulled out of the vehicle and shot repeatedly. Authorities allege that Samuels and Thomas later purchased a Cobalt ax that was used to dismember the body.

Police were alerted to the crime by Thomas’ grandfather, who called 911 after seeing the red Mustang Thomas was driving in the area and his grandson coming out of the woods. The grandfather said Thomas told him that someone had been shot.

The older man was clearly distraught during the 911 call, at one point saying, “Oh, my God! What the [expletive] did he do?”

Sands also read text messages attributed to Samuels and Meeks following the slaying. One text from Samuels read, “I’m a [expletive] up psychopath and you just saw it first hand.”

Bronwyn Meeks in one text expressed displeasure with how the slaying was carried out, writing, “We’re [expletive] because everything was done so [expletive] wrong.”

All three suspects have been in custody for the past year.

https://fredericksburg.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/spotsy-woman-pleads-guilty-to-killing-dismembering-stafford-man/article_1c5b3967-6f8a-5424-b890-5c598940f788.html

Bronwyn Meeks Photos

Domonic M. Samuels Brennan E. Thomas and Bronwyn C. Meeks Spotsylvania murder of Dylan Whetzel

Michael Smith Virginia Execution

Michael Smith was executed by the State of Virginia for the sexual assault and murder of a woman. According to court documents Michael Smith who was just released from prison after serving time for sexual assault would attack, sexually assault and murder a woman. Michael Smith would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Michael Smith would be executed by way of the electric chair on August 31, 1986

Michael Smith More News

A man who said the devil made him rape and murder a woman has been executed in Virginia’s electric chair after spending 8 1/2 years on death row.

″Father, I am here,″ Michael Marnell Smith said just before the first of two 55-second jolts of current ran through his body Thursday night, a half hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

Smith, 40, who spent more time on death row than anyone else now facing execution in Virginia, died at the State Penitentiary at 11:42 p.m., said Corrections Department spokesman Wayne Farrar.

In a 5-3 decision, the nation’s highest court rejected Smith’s appeal at 11:10 p.m. Earlier in the day, federal district and appeals court judges refused to block the execution, the state’s fifth since it resumed executions in 1982 and first in more than a year. The execution was the nation’s 12th this year.

Smith was condemned for the May 23, 1977, murder of Audrey Jean Weiler, a mother of two who was attacked as she strolled by the James River on her 36th birthday. He had been out of prison for less than five months after serving three years for rape.

In an affidavit, Smith said he met Mrs. Weiler on a beach and helped her pull some thorns from her feet. He then took her to the woods, forced her to disrobe, raped her, choked her, dragged her to the beach, held her head under water, stabbed her three times and left her corpse in the river.

He blamed his crimes on the devil.

Smith appeared dazed when led into the execution chamber, then peered into the witness room, which was occupied by reporters for the first time since the resumption of executions in Virginia. He prayed from the moment he was brought in until the first surge of electricity hit him.

″I come to thee, O Lord,″ he said. ″Father, your holy spirit, accept me, O Lord, I pray.″

″Father,″ he said, ″I am here.″

The prison chaplain responded, ″God bless you,″ as the current jolted Smith’s body.

Outside the prison, about 100 people protested for and against the death penalty.

Smith’s lawyers had requested a stay of execution from the lower courts until the Supreme Court could rule on whether death sentences are applied unfairly against blacks when whites are the victims.

Michael Smith was black and his victim white.

The Supreme Court, without comment, refused to review the appeal, with Justices Harry A. Blackmun, William Brennan Jr. and Thurgood Marshall dissenting, and John Paul Stevens not participating.

Smith had been ″pleasant, cooperative and very much in contact with reality″ as he awaited his execution, said Dwight Perry, operations officer at the penitentiary. Smith, a father of three, was visited by at least three clergymen and a brother during his final hours.

https://apnews.com/article/9eba39e2e8a5e04245421c96ab3e3778

Morris Mason Virginia Execution

Morris Mason was executed by the State of Virginia for the sexual assault and murder of an elderly woman. According to court documents Morris Mason would sexually assault, murder and then set the house on fire of the elderly victim. Morris Mason who was a serial rapist would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Morris Mason would be executed by way of the electric chair on June 25 1985

Morris Mason More News

Morris Mason, convicted in a 1978 crime spree, went calmly and silently to his death in the electric chair after efforts to block the execution because of his mental impairment failed.

Mason, a 32-year-old laborer, was led to the basement death chamber at the state penitentiary about four hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final appeal, said prison spokeswoman Kathi King. He made no statement.

He was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m. Tuesay, Ms. King said.

Mason was convicted of raping and murdering Margaret K. Hand, 71, who was beaten to death. Her hand was nailed to a chair and her house was set afire.

He also confessed to raping and murdering another elderly woman, raping a 12-year-old girl and maiming her 13-year-old sister, a two-week string of acts he said were prompted by voices ″telling me to destroy something, tear up something.″

The Supreme Court voted 7-2 Tuesday night against granting a stay, the fourth time justices declined to hear an appeal.

Mason’s lawyer, J. Lloyd Snook, had contended in appeals that Mason’s IQ of 66, or mildly retarded, and paranoid schizophrenia made the death penalty inappropriate. In IQ of 90 to 109 is normal.

He said Mason had the mind of a child and was unaware he was about to die.

″In my opinion, he knew all the time what was going on,″ said Toni Bair, warden of Mecklenburg Correctional Center. ″He was totally calm, very coherent, calm.″

Snook said Mason appeared ″quiet, nervous. He didn’t have a whole lot to say. He was determined to be strong.″

″The last thing he said to me was ‘Warden, I gave you my word that I would go out strong, and I’m going out strong.’ He told me that twice,″ Bair said.

Almost 200 death penalty advocates gathered outside the prison. They cheered loudly at word the execution had been carried out.

About 100 anti-death penalty protestors staged a quiet candlelight vigil.

Gov. Charles S. Robb, Mason’s last hope for a reprieve, declined to intervene, despite a telephoned appeal from an aide to U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice.

Conyers aide Julian Epstein spoke with Robb on the congressman’s behalf.

″We have been very disturbed over the whole pattern of racial discrimination ,″ he said in a telephone interview from Conyers’ Washington, D.C., office. Mason was black.

″We don’t get involved in every case, but this one seems to stand out,″ Epstein said.

He said Conyers agreed with Snook that Mason should have had an independent mental evaluation before being sentenced.

Mason’s was the third execution in the last eight months in Virginia and the fourth since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the death penalty in 1976.

https://apnews.com/article/7810c2a047380d56ef609f851dd2a788

Linwood And James Briley Executions

Linwood and James Briley were two of three brothers who during a crime spree in Virginia would leave 11 people dead and a Nation worried when they were able to escape from death row. Linwood Briley was just seventeen years old when he would murder a pregnant woman and would spend time in a juvenile detention center.

Linwood and James Briley reign of terror would begin in March of 1979 when they would kill their first victim and before they were done in October of the same year would leave ten more victims dead. Linwood and James Briley would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Linwood Briley would be executed on October 12 1984 and his brother James Briley would be executed on April 18 1985

Linwood And James Briley

There were some ominous signs in the childhood of brothers Linwood, James and Anthony Briley. Still, “they grew up in a good family,” with loving parents, according to true crime author Eric Blanding.

The Brileys, of Richmond, Virginia, had a hobby of feeding small animals to pet snakes. They also, however, were known around town for helping neighbors with any yard work that needed doing. But that belied their true nature — they ended up with at least 11 bodies to their names.

“They were just so evil,” Blanding said. “Some of the acts they committed were just unbelievable.”

The three brothers’ criminal acts escalated precipitously, according to authorities interviewed for “Killer Siblings” on Oxygen. The three brothers followed a path from thefts and drug-dealing to a series of cruel, gruesome slayings that landed all three in prison.

Linwood led his younger brothers, as well as teenage acolyte Duncan Meekins, in a gang of sorts, and Linwood claimed his first life in 1971. Then 16, Linwood shot 57-year-old Orline Christian out his back window with a rifle, while she was hanging wet laundry on a clothesline.

She died instantly, and investigators initially thought it might have been heart trouble, according to “Killer Siblings.” However, when she was being prepared for burial at the local funeral home, a keen-eyed employee noted a small hole in her dress, and dried blood.

Police traced the shot to Linwood’s window, and the 16-year-old first claimed the killing was done accidentally while he was shooting at squirrels, according to “Killer Siblings.” He would later admit that he had shot Christian deliberately, adding, “I heard she had heart problems; she would have died soon, anyway,” according to Thoughtco.

n 1979, the Brileys plotted and executed a series of robberies and burglaries — and unleashed their true, vicious natures on the people of Richmond.

On March 12 of that year, the brothers — along with Meekins — forced their way into the home of elderly couple William and Virginia Butcher. They looted the home, then tried to burn the couple alive, according to “Killer Siblings.” Luckily, Meekins tied their bonds too loosely and they were able to escape after the gang left the home in flames.

The Butchers are the only two victims of the Brileys to survive, according to Thoughtco. Their next targets wouldn’t be so lucky.

A little more than a week later, they robbed and murdered a machine serviceman in his own home, according to the Washington Post. The following month, they raped, robbed and shot to death 76-year-old Mary Gowen.

In July, Christopher Phillips, 17, merely made the mistake of hanging around the brothers’ vehicle, according to Thoughtco. The brothers dragged him to a field and beat him before Linwood performed the coup de grace with a cinderblock to the head.

In September 1979, well-liked local country-western DJ Johnny Galleher disappeared after he stepped out of a gig for a smoke, according to “Killer Siblings.” Authorities had few leads other than Gallaher’s empty vehicle turning up — until two weeks later, when his body was found, shot in the back of the head with a rifle. According to authorities interviewed on “Killer Siblings,” the Briley gang noticed Gallaher’s “shiny belt buckle,” and took his life for it; his murder would later be pinned on Linwood.

In two of the gang’s most gruesome slayings, 79-year-old Blanche Page and her boarder, Charles Garner, 59, were subjected to a home invasion by the baseball bat-wielding Brileys in October the same year. Page had her head beaten in — she was “unrecognizable,” according to authorities on “Killer Siblings.” Garner was beaten as well, and then pinned to the floor with knives, scissors and a fork, according to the Washington Post.

The gang’s final, atrocious home invasion would come on Oct. 19 1979. Pregnant Judy Barton, her partner, Harvey Wilkerson, and her 5-year-old son, Harvey, were murdered. Members of the small family were only put out of their misery after three members of the gang had each raped Judy within earshot of her partner and young son, according to the Post.

The family’s bodies were not discovered by police for three days, but a task force that was surveilling the area at the time of the murders helped quickly pin them on the Brileys and Meekins. Linwood and Meekins were arrested after a brief car chase, while James and Anthony turned themselves in, according to Thoughtco.

Authorities pushed forward with the charges they knew would stick, primarily trying to make sure the Brileys and Meekins would never walk the streets again, according to “Killer Siblings.” All four were charged in the Wilkerson, Garner and Page murders, with Anthony being sentenced to life and James and Linwood sentenced to death.

The Briley brothers had one last trick up their sleeves, however. In May 1984 — just two months before their execution date — Linwood and James led the state’s only ever successful death-row prison break, escaping the Mecklenburg Correctional Center in Virginia. The Brileys lived comfortably with friends in Philadelphia for about two weeks; during that time, Briley sightings were common, and T-shirts were even sold that jokingly displayed the logo, “I’m not one of the Briley brothers,” according to “Killer Siblings.”

One afternoon, police and FBI agents surrounded a Philadelphia home where the Brileys were barbecuing. They took them in without resistance.

In October 1984, Linwood was executed, with James’ death coming the following April, according to Thoughtco.

https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/linwood-james-anthony-briley-brothers-murder-spree-duncan-meekins