The Latest: Flags fly at half-staff to honour slain student

FORT VALLEY, Ga. – The Latest on the stabbings at Fort Valley State University (all times local):

11 a.m.

Flags are flying at half-staff outside state buildings and grounds in Georgia in memory of a student stabbed to death on the campus of Fort Valley State University.

Former student Joseph Anthony Scott Jr. faces charges including murder in the Tuesday killing of 19-year-old freshman Donnell Phelps.

Police say Scott was harassing and groping three young women near the school cafeteria, and Phelps came to their aid by trying to intervene.

Police say Scott stabbed Phelps to death and attacked a campus security officer, who survived.

Gov. Nathan Deal said in an executive order that flags would fly at half-staff on state property until sunset Friday.

Deal said Phelps will be remembered for the “heroic actions” he displayed while preventing assaults on the three women and possibly preventing their deaths.

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9:30 a.m.

The suspect accused of stabbing a college freshman to death on a Georgia campus used a profanity and shouted at a court appearance that he’s not a killer.

Former student Joseph Anthony Scott Jr. faces charges including murder in the Tuesday killing of 19-year-old freshman Donnell Phelps at Fort Valley State University.

In video shot by local media, Scott turns away from the judge at a Thursday court hearing to tell others in the courtroom he understands they’re “looking at me like a killer or whatever,” then adds that “I’m not a (expletive) killer!”

Police say Scott was harassing and groping three young women near the school cafeteria, and Phelps came to their aid by trying to intervene. Police say Scott then stabbed security officer Ernest Johnson. Johnson survived.

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8:15 a.m.

Police at a Georgia university say a security officer stabbed seven times in knife attacks on the campus has been released from a hospital.

Former student Joseph Anthony Scott Jr. faces charges including murder in the Tuesday killing of 19-year-old freshman Donnell Phelps at Fort Valley State University in central Georgia.

Police say Scott was harassing and groping three young women near the school cafeteria Tuesday and Phelps came to their aid by trying to intervene. They say Scott pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed Phelps to death.

Police say Scott then stabbed security officer Ernest Johnson as he left the campus.

Campus Safety Police Chief Kenneth Morgan said Johnson has returned home from the hospital, but will need additional time to recover from his injuries.