ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – Police arrested two of the 13 people charged Wednesday in the hazing death of Florida A&M University (FAMU) drum major Robert Champion.
Caleb Jackson, 23, and Rikki Wills, 24, are among the 11 suspects facing a third-degree felony charge, which could carry a penalty of nearly six years in prison.
The other two suspects will face a misdemeanor charge.
Calling Champion's death "nothing short of an American tragedy," Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar announced the charges at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
He did not release the names of the accused because most were still at large.
Later in the day, authorities confirmed Jackson and Wills had been taken into custody.
Further charges may be coming in the near future, Lamar said, making a plea for anyone with information about the homicide "to come forward and tell the whole truth."
Champion, 26, died Nov. 19, 2011, on a charter bus outside a hotel in Orlando, where the FAMU band had performed during the school's football game against rival Bethune-Cookman.
The Orange County Medical Examiner's Office said Champion collapsed after "multiple blunt trauma blows to his body" and ruled his death a homicide. An autopsy found "extensive contusions of his chest, arms, shoulder and back," according to the report, and investigators believe he was beaten to death by other band members.
The student's parents, Pam and Robert G. Champion, have said they believe their son was targeted for more severe hazing because he took a vocal stance against the violent ritual and because he was gay.
They filed a lawsuit in February against the charter bus company on whose bus the attack occurred and have called on FAMU President James Ammons to resign.
Lamar said he spoke with Pam and Robert G. Champion Wednesday and told reporters they made sacrifices to send their son to school.
"No one could have expected that his college experience would have included being pummeled to death,"-Lamar said.
The evidence against Robert Champion's hazers did not warrant murder charges, the state attorney told reporters, when asked why prosecutors did not pursue more serious felony counts.
He said Champion died from an "aggregation of things," or multiple blows from multiple people, adding that prosecutors can only confidently prove "the participation of hazing in a death."
FAMU, in Tallahassee, has been under pressure to address hazing culture on campus since the incident. Last week, two faculty members accused of being present during a separate hazing incident in 2010 reportedly resigned.
SOURCE LINK: https://www.newscore.com
13 to be charged in FAMU hazing death
Tags: blunt trauma, contusions, famu band, m university, orange county medical examiner, third degree felony, wofl fox 35
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