Associated Press writer Christopher Weber contributed from Los Angeles. “We have to deal with this issue nationally,” he said. It moved to its current site in northeast Baltimore in 1917, and was purchased by the state of Maryland in 1939 as it aimed to provide more opportunities for Black citizens.īaltimore Mayor Brandon Scott noted recent declines in the city’s homicide rate and said the shooting Tuesday indicates a need for national gun reform. The university, which has about 9,000 students, was founded in 1867 as the Centenary Biblical Institute with an initial mission of training men for ministry, according to its website. “By no means will it define who we are as a university.” “It is unfortunate that this tragedy happened here tonight,” he said. Morgan State University President David Wilson said he had canceled Wednesday’s classes, and would hold an emergency meeting Wednesday morning to decide whether to hold other events planned for the runup to the school’s homecoming game, which is scheduled to be played on Saturday. They were doing a good thing - an event to promote positivity - and all this negativity happens.” He’s going to make sure I know he’s OK,” Blackwood said. He sang in the ceremony and was planning to host a prayer service afterward. 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.īlackwood said his son was in the arts center’s auditorium. “I’m gonna be here until I can physically see her,” he said. James Willoughby, a Morgan State alum whose daughter is a freshman, said he wasn’t leaving until he laid eyes on her. Parents gathered outside a police blockade at the south entrance to campus. Yellow crime tape encircled the area as officers used flashlights to search for evidence. Orange evidence markers were visible on the ground in front of a building next to the dorm where the shooting occurred. Many were trying to process the chaos and fear that overwhelmed an evening of festivities. Shortly after midnight, dozens of students wearing gowns and suits started trickling out of the student center, where they had been waiting. He said they ended the shelter-in-place order around 12:30 a.m., after SWAT officers cleared a building where a suspect was feared to be hiding. Worley said police heard gunshots and several dorm windows shattered, so officials initially thought there was an active shooter on campus and acted accordingly. A police news release said officers responded to a report of the shooting around 9:25 p.m. 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. The police did not release information about a suspect or suspects, and Worley said that investigators didn’t know how many shooters were involved. Morgan State Police Chief Lance Hatcher said four of the victims are students at the university. Their injuries were not life-threatening, he told reporters at a news conference early Wednesday. Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the five victims, four men and one woman, are between the ages of 18 and 22. Students hunkered down for several hours, as police went room to room looking for suspects. By LEA SKENE and DENISE LAVOIE (Associated Press)īALTIMORE (AP) - A shooting interrupted a homecoming week celebration at Baltimore’s Morgan State University on Tuesday, wounding five people and prompting an hourslong lockdown of the historically Black college.
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