DAYTONA BEACH, FL- The Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) arrested an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) student for plotting to shoot up the campus on the final day at the school before winter break.
19-year-old John Hagins faces numerous charges after ERAU campus security notified DBPD early this morning (December 9, 2021) of a concerning tip they received from a couple of fellow students. Exact charges have yet to be determined.
“We could have had a tragedy unfold today,” stated DBPD Police Chief Jakari Young. “Instead, these students reported it to the school and that allowed us to get to work right away and bring Hagins into custody before he could carry out his plans. We thank them all for seeing something and saying something.”
Volusia County emergency dispatchers were first informed by ERAU security at 4:10 a.m., which prompted officers to respond to the scene at 175 Aerospace Boulevard shortly afterward.
Investigators quickly discovered social media messages Hagins had written where he laid out his plans to bring a folding gun to the campus tucked inside a backpack along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. It appears Hagins sold his vehicle to purchase that gun and ammunition.
Officers who took Hagins into custody at his residence in the Andros Isles apartments found the gun, ammunition and backpack in his possession. He’s currently being processed at our Valor Boulevard headquarters and will be sent to Volusia County Jail once that process is completed.
Detectives are still trying to piece together the exact motive, but we have learned that Hagins was in danger of failing classes at ERAU and was also cited for a traffic infraction while on campus yesterday.