Answers to What Sparked Trooper's Death in VA Offer no Consolation

 

Authorities are learning more about the man who killed Virginia State Trooper Chad Dermyer at a Greyhound station in Richmond, Virginia.

“We’ve got a lot of evidence to sift through,” Flaherty said. The evidence, he said, included bags that could have belonged to the gunman.

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A CBS affiliate in Chicago is reporting they’ve heard from an official source that authorities have identified the shooter as 34-year-old James Brown III of Aurora, Illinois.

WTVR reports:

WTVR found a James Brown III., a man with a long criminal history in Aurora, whose birthdate matches up with the information from the station’s source.

Brown, says WTVR, is well known to police there.

His aunt, Edith Brown, also of Aurora, told the station she helped raise Brown and had allowed him to stay with her until December when, she says, she kicked him out.

She said, “He always liked the criminal side.”

Edith Brown said she was upset about what happened, but not surprised.

“He had a lot of anger about the police in the past,” she said. “He pretty much thought he wanted to be infamous . . . in terms of having a showdown. He always praised those people who got into shootouts with police.”

Court records show James Brown III had been charged with murder, intent to kill, aggravated battery with a firearm, failure to obey police, resisting a corrections officer, aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, aggravated battery of an unborn child, numerous drug charges, intimidation, domestic battery, felony possession of a weapon, among many charges.

WTVR said it was unclear how many charges he was ultimately convicted of and imprisoned for over the years.

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The two women shot in the incident (one being a member of the Binghamton University track team) remain hospitalized but are expected to survive.

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