Five wounded in shooting at Morgan State University - Mayor Scott speaks asking Congress to act on gun control
(TSN): A week of homecoming activities turned violent as an at-large gunman opened fire at Morgan State University Tuesday night leaving four students injured out of the 5 people who were shot.
The university's president David Wilson said homecoming kings and queens had been crowned at a coronation held earlier in the evening and the sounds of gun were heard as students were walking to the student center. He cancelled Wednesday classes. “Our students at the end of that were headed over to the Student Center to rejoice and to enjoy themselves when this unfortunate situation erupted on the campus,” he said. "We will be assessing what happens for the rest of homecoming week," Wilson added.
Among the victims are four men and one woman, between the ages 18 to 22. They all sustained non-life-threatening injuries, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at a news conference.
The shooter got away and while an investigation is underway police are operating with no description of the assailant. Authorities would not confirm if there multiple suspects. Local and federal agents are assisting with the investigation.
The incessant occurrences of gun violence around the country have angered Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott who was just at a Whtie House event promoting gun reform in late September. He said the entire city of Baltimore's "heart aches" for the Morgan State community, the victims and their families and the city as a whole. But he turned to the greater issue of gun violence in the country, removing attention off Baltimore, a metropolitan area linked to high crime rates. He said this mass shooting "joins a long line of colleges and schools around this country that have seen incidents like this. It reminds us all that we are dealing with... an epidemic when it comes to guns and gun violence and it's time for us to get serious about this. We have to stop saying not one more
. There are things that can be done particularly at the level of Congress . . ." Mayor Scott added "we know" that something can be done about this, but it is a matter of whether we have the courage to do so."
A Best Colleges study on the rise in mass shootings over 5 decades found that "at least 99 people have been killed in 12 mass shootings at U.S. colleges since the 1960s. Outside of mass shootings, there have been over 300 instances of gunfire on college campuses, killing 94 people and injuring 215."
Students on Black college campus are not unique when it comes violence at their schools. A string of shootings occurred with on or near HBCUs in 2015 at Miles College, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University, Tennessee State University, Texas Southern University, and Winston-Salem State University. Last month in Florida crisis was diverted on the campus of Edward Waters University where security guards prevented a suspicious man from coming on campus after tips from student who saw him. That man, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, was the suspect in a massacre at a nearby Dollar General Store. In more recent years, the FBI identified suspects in bomb threat targeting several HBCUS.
Shelter-in-place orders were lifted at Morgan State hours after police scoured buildings on campus.