After more than a month on the run, the man accused of having a gun during a protest at Valdosta State University was arrested, according to police.
Eric E. Sheppard Jr., 21, was arrested Thursday morning at a Tampa home and booked into the Hillsborough County jail. He was being held without bond late Thursday and is expected to be extradited to Georgia.
On April 21, university police issued an arrest warrant for Sheppard after a backpack with a handgun inside was found on campus. Sheppard allegedly left the backpack behind when he and other students protested by walking on an American flag. He was charged with carrying weapons within a school safety zone, according to police.
In a video uploaded to YouTube, Eric Sheppard explained to onlookers why he and other protesters walked on the flag.
“That flag represents white supremacy racism which is plaguing the entire earth, so when we step on that flag we are stepping on racism, white supremacy,” he said. “We are stepping on the things that were erected alongside our genocide and our holocaust.”
In the five-minute video, Sheppard calls himself a terrorist.
“I am a terrorist toward lies. I’m a terrorist toward liars. I’m a terrorist toward those that are wicked, so yes, I am a terrorist toward white people,” Sheppard also said.
Air Force veteran Michelle Manhart was banned from the campus after taking the flag from the protesters. She was temporarily detained by police, but not arrested.
Sheppard’s father made a public plea for his son to surrender, but police believed the younger Sheppard was in hiding.
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