5 people were wounded in a shooting at Morgan State University,APNAQANOON

Five people were wounded, none critically, in a shooting that interrupted a homecoming week celebration at Morgan

State University in Baltimore on Tuesday and prompted an hourslong lockdown of the historically Black college.

Students sheltered in place for about four hours, as police went room to room looking for suspects. Classes were canceled for Wednesday.

Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the five victims, four males and one female, are between the ages of 18 and 22. Their injuries were not life-threatening, he told reporters at a news conference early Wednesday.

Morgan State Police Chief Lance Hatcher said four of the victims are students at the university. No arrests were announced and police did not release information about a suspect or suspects, and Worley said that investigators didn’t know how many shooters were involved.

Sponsor Message

RACE
HBCUs are on alert as racially motivated attacks intensify across the country
The shooting happened shortly after the coronation of Mister & Miss Morgan State at the Murphy Fine Arts Center, as students were heading to a campus ball.

Konnor Crowder, a sophomore from Baltimore, said he and his friends had been waiting for the coronation ball to start when they saw people running across the campus.

“First I was wondering what they were running for, then I was wondering where we should go,” he said.

Worley said police heard gunshots and several dorm windows shattered, so officials initially thought there was an active shooter on campus and followed appropriate protocols. He said they ended the shelter-in-place order around 12:30 a.m., after SWAT officers cleared a building where a suspect may have run.

Shortly after midnight, dozens of students wearing gowns and suits started trickling out of the arts center, where they had been sheltering. Many were trying to process the chaos and fear that overwhelmed an evening of festivities.

Orange evidence markers were visible on the ground in front of a building next to the dorm where the shooting occurred. Yellow crime tape encircled the area as officers used flashlights to search for evidence.

How Morgan State’s new leader prepares for the Battle of the Bands
MUSIC NEWS
How Morgan State’s new leader prepares for the Battle of the Bands
Parents gathered at a media staging area outside a police blockade at the south entrance to campus. James Willoughby, a Morgan State alum whose daughter is a freshman, said he wasn’t leaving until he laid eyes on her. “I’m gonna be here until I can physically see her,” he said.

Glenmore Blackwood came to the campus after hearing from his son, a senior who told him the shooting occurred just as the coronation was concluding.

Blackwood said his son was sheltering in place in the arts center’s auditorium. He sang in the ceremony and was planning to host a prayer service afterward. READ MORE

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *