Five people were shot at Morgan State University in Baltimore during Homecoming week, according to the police. Four of those victims were students.
According to officials, all five victims—four men and one woman, aged 18 to 22—suffered non-life-threatening wounds.
According to David Wilson, the president of the historically black university, the shooting took place Tuesday night “on campus near the Murphy Fine Arts Center and Thurgood Marshall Hall.”
According to Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley, the incident seemed to be a conflict between two smaller groups in which two people brandished firearms at one person.
He said that none of the five victims were the intended target.
Brandon Scott, the mayor of Baltimore, also said that it didn’t seem like the shooting was motivated by race.
Christian Gatlin, a 20-year-old junior, was on the student center’s second floor when he heard what he initially mistook for fireworks but now believes to have been a “faint gunshot.”
According to Gatlin, “We just saw people running.” It was simply chaotic.
Shawn Pollard, a student, recalled how everyone just started yelling and warning others nearby that there was a shooter active and to take cover.
Anaiah Pamplin, a freshman, claimed that she heard four pops while she was seated in the cafeteria.
“Until I witnessed others dodge and flee, it didn’t really register at first. I immediately raced to the cafeteria’s back,” she continued. “I was just stunned,”
Police announced on social media just before midnight that the situation was no longer being treated as an active shooter scenario. Morgan State University announced that the campus’s shelter-in-place order had been withdrawn a half-hour later.
There have been no detentions.
They went over each floor twice, according to Worley. When we came to the conclusion that the campus was probably safe, we reopened it because we couldn’t locate the gunman anywhere around.
When the school went into lockdown, freshman James Fitzgerald was in his room working on his math homework.
“You can’t tell if the SWAT [officers] who arrived at my door were the shooter or not. So I was pretty afraid when I saw the illumination,” he stated. “I’ve just prayed.”
Irmani-Maure Beauvais, a student, stated, “I’m away from home, so it was terrible.
The mayor expressed the sorrow of the whole city of Baltimore for the Morgan community, the victims and their families, and the city at large.
“National action,” he urged, “especially from Congress.”
Wednesday’s classes will not be held, according to Morgan State, out of an abundance of caution.
Homecoming week at Morgan State is this week. Wilson claimed that when he learned of the incident, it was right after he had left the wedding of Mr. & Mrs. Morgan State University.
‘I am convening a meeting with the Executive Cabinet this morning to reassess the rest of Homecoming festivities this week, and I will tell the university community of our decision later this afternoon,’ he wrote in a statement to the school community on Wednesday.
“We are sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of the hurt youngsters. Our committed staff from the University Counseling Center and the Division of Student Affairs is available to serve any students in need,” he added.
During the briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Morgan State is in our hearts today & we’ll continue to do whatever we can to provide the assistance needed as the community heals from this horrific shooting.”
Everybody on campus and in the neighborhood is urged to obey the advice of safety experts as a search for the shooter continues, Jean-Pierre added.
She emphasized that this shooting serves as further evidence of the need for the White House’s new Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The university president, the mayor of Baltimore, and the governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, according to her, are all in contact with the White House.