University of Virginia faculty, staff and students as well as doctors and patients at UVa Medical Center have been urged to shelter in place Tuesday morning as police search the area for a man with known gang ties who fled an off-Grounds traffic stop earlier in the day.
“Police are looking for a suspect, Nyheem Hill, last seen in the area of Alderman Road, who fled following an off-Grounds traffic stop near Ivy Road and has a known criminal history and gang affiliation,” UVa spokeswoman Bethanie Glover said in a statement issued at 9:57 a.m. “The suspect has no known affiliation with the University. All UVA community members should continue to shelter in place until further notice.”
Police described Hill as a Black man standing 6-foot-1, weighing 170 pounds and wearing a gray, hooded sweatshirt in a UVa Emergency Management alert sent at 10:47 a.m. Anyone who sees Hill has been asked to call 911.
Police are searching for a man described only as a “suspect” near Alderman Road in Charlottesville captured here on surveillance.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA POLICE DIVISION
Police scanner activity indicates Hill was involved in a multiple-vehicle collision earlier in the morning Tuesday before running on foot to the University Heights, or U-Heights, apartment complex off Ivy Road.
As of 10:10 a.m., police had established a perimeter around the apartment complex and helicopters were flying overhead.
By 11 a.m. the search had been expanded to the entire Lewis Mountain neighborhood.
The suspect has been confirmed to be the “Nyeem Hill” who was sentenced to 14 months behind bars last July in a Charlottesville court for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Hill had been found the prior November livestreaming from a playground near the Westhaven public housing project in the city carrying a pair of weapons, an assault rife and a pistol.
Hill
Hill had previously been convicted after he was involved in a shootout and received a stolen vehicle, all before he turned 18.
Hill was released from Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail on Dec. 16.
UVa sent its first in a series of alerts Tuesday at 9:04 a.m. urging people near Alderman Road to avoid the area due to “fire/police activity.”
At 9:18 a.m., UVa sent a second alert: “Police are looking for a suspect in the area. Shelter in place.”
The shelter-in-place order was expanded to include UVa Medical Center at 10:02 a.m.
“No shots fired, no injuries,” the university reported at 10:06 a.m.
All academic classes at UVa were canceled “until further notice,” the university said at 10:22 a.m.
Charlottesville City Schools announced Tuesday morning that all classes would be conducted indoors.
This is a developing story.
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