Month: April 2025

Authorities confirmed on Wednesday that four teenagers are in custody following a shooting during an illegal gun sale and robbery in northeastern Virginia on Tuesday evening that left three people dead and three others injured.

The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office received calls about a shooting just outside of Fredericksburg, in the area of Olde Greenwich Drive and Lafayette Boulevard around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening. Deputies responded to find multiple people shot at the town house complex following what they now believe was an “illegal gun sale/robbery,” according to a news release. The three people killed were two 18-year-old men, identified as Spotsylvania County residents Chase Feaster and Alonzo Goffney; and one 20-year-old man who was not publicly identified.

The four suspects — two 16-year-olds, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old — were arrested and charged with “malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony unlawful assembly” on Wednesday morning.  Three of the suspects are being held without bail; one 16-year-old suspect suffered a gunshot wound and is in the hospital, but will be incarcerated upon his release.

The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office sharing in a social media post: “All suspects are in custody and there is no threat to public safety … We commend our detectives on bringing this tragedy to a closure,” the sheriff’s office said. “We want to thank our partnership with the Fredericksburg Police Department and the Virginia State Police for their assistance during the investigation.”

Fredericksburg City Public Schools announced on its website that schools would “operate on a two-hour delay” Wednesday “in light of the profound impact this incident has had on members of our school community. This delay will allow us the necessary time to prepare our buildings and staff to welcome students with the care and support they may need during this difficult time.”

Spotsylvania County Public Schools also operated on a two-hour delay Wednesday, saying it would allow staff to have support in place to help students and staff who may have been impacted. The support included additional deputies and presence from the sheriff’s office at each of the high schools.

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The White House confirmed that more than $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and  $790 million for Northwestern University have been frozen while the government investigates alleged civil rights violations at both schools.

A Trump administration official said “the money was frozen in connection with several ongoing, credible, and concerning Title VI investigations,” referring to a federal statute that prohibits discrimination in programs and activities that receive federal funding. The New York Times was first to report the freeze on funding for the universities.

In a statement, Cornell said it had received more than 75 stop work orders earlier Tuesday from the Defense Department related to research “profoundly significant to American national defense, cybersecurity, and health” but that it had not otherwise received any information confirming $1 billion in frozen grants.  A statement from Michael I. Kotlikoff, the university president, read: “We are actively seeking information from federal officials to learn more about the basis for these decisions,” adding it has “worked diligently to create an environment where all individuals and viewpoints are protected and respected.”

Northwestern University president Michael Schill said in an email to his community that it had not been notified by the federal government of the cuts (according to the campus newspaper The Daily Northwestern.).  Schill said that “federal funds that Northwestern receives drive innovative and life-saving research, like the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world’s smallest pacemaker, and research fueling the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. This type of research is now at jeopardy. The University has fully cooperated with investigations by both the Department of Education and Congress.”

On March 14, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, announced it had opened Title VI investigations into 45 universities, emphasizing it has “reiterated” the schools’ “civil rights obligations to end the use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.”

This new freeze is the latest in a series of federal funding attacks against the Ivy League, but Northwestern would be the first institution to face a funding cut outside of that group. The Trump administration has already frozen funding at Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. Yale University and Dartmouth College are the only two Ivies that have yet to receive a similar notice.

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