Part-Time Police Officer Charged with Murder of N.C. Christian University Student
A student and part-time police officer has been charged with the first-degree murder of a fellow student at Mid-Atlantic Christian University in Elizabeth City, N.C.
Christopher David Amyx, a sophomore at the school, voluntarily turned himself in Wednesday night – three days after the shooting that left Jonathan Schipper dead in his dorm room Sunday.
Amyx had been named a person of interest after he was found outside Schipper's dorm room following the shooting. Police documents say the 23-year-old sophomore, who serves as a part-time police officer for the town of Pinetops, N.C., 100 miles away, had told another student at the college that he had shot Schipper and to call 911.
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Though Amyx told Elizabeth City Police Detective Jerry Boyce that he "had been receiving numerous threats from unidentified sources" prior to the shooting, it wasn't clear exactly what led to the shooting.
Amyx did, however, say that he had shot the victim "in self defense," according the search warrant. At least one other student has also reported that the two didn't get along.
Schipper was found dead in his room Sunday with a gunshot wound to the head. Amyx, meanwhile, was found in the hallway of the dorm with a semi-automatic gun on the floor.
A search of Amyx's room and car later led to the discovery of at least three other guns, a knife, bullet proof vest, and Bible among other items.
Notably, Mid-Atlantic Christian University does not permit guns on campus and has never reported a violent crime in the nearly six decades since its founding.
The school, which changed its name last year from Roanoke Bible College, is a conservative Christian institution with less than 200 students. The school's goal is to train evangelists, regardless of what line of work they choose to study for.
