VA Hospital shooting victim, suspect were neighbors

VA Hospital shooting victim, suspect were neighbors
Mark Holmberg
Reporter
11:31 p.m. EST, February 22, 2012

BLACKSTONE, Va (WTVR)- The fatal shooting at Richmond’s McGuire Veterans Medical Center Wednesday morning allegedly involved a custodial worker there from Blackstone who inexplicably fired a pistol at a neighbor he had brought there for a regular cancer treatment, his girlfriend told CBS-6 News.

James Stephenson Lee, an Army veteran receiving cancer treatments, was struck in the head and the eye during the 7:15 a.m. shooting on the parking lot outside of the vast South Richmond facility. He was taken to VCU Medical Center, where his family said he was put on life support but showed no brain activity. Life support was removed sometime after 8 p.m. Wednesday.

A VCU Medical Center spokesman said he died between 8 and 10 p.m.

State troopers stopped Cornelius I. Hayes, 55, at the wheel of the blue pickup they had been riding in a little after the shooting near I-295 and Route 10. On his lap was a revolver holding two bullets and three spent cartridges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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McGuire VA Medical Center shooting suspect has criminal past
WTVR.com Staff and Sandra Jones
8:50 p.m. EST, February 22, 2012

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Virginia State troopers arrested the suspect in a Wednesday morning shooting at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, said Richmond Police spokesman Gene Lepley.

Law enforcement officials from several jurisdictions, including the FBI, rushed to the scene.
Investigators said Cornelius Hayes opened fire, hitting James Lee, in the head and left eye before taking off in this 2005 Ford Explorer SUV.

"A trooper in Charles City county noticed the vehicle travelling down Route 5 and called in the suspect's vehicle," said Sgt. Thomas Molnar with Virginia State Police.

After a brief pursuit through four localities, Virginia State Police stopped Hayes near a WaWa gas station off Route 10 in Chesterfield.

"He waited to pull over the vehicle until other law enforcement officials could assist him with that arrest," said Molnar.
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