Chapel Hill, N.C. — A solemn crowd of thousands of people flocked the quad outside Polk Place on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus Thursday afternoon to mourn the loss its student body president – the victim of a shooting that has sent shockwaves through the UNC community.

Chapel Hill police confirmed hours earlier that a woman found dead in a neighborhood about a half-mile from the campus on Wednesday was that of Eve Marie Carson, 22, of Athens, Ga.

Police found her body at the corner of Hillcrest Road and Hillcrest Circle about 5:30 a.m. while responding to reports of gunshots nearby. The UNC senior suffered from multiple gunshot wounds – including one to the head, authorities said.

"We're all in a state of shock," UNC Chancellor James Moeser said during the informal gathering that drew an estimated 5,000 people, most who held each other and cried.
"We are all hurting. We are all grief-stricken – stunned," he said. "This university needs an enormous group hug. It's OK to cry. It's OK to be filled with grief."

The UNC Bell Tower tolled every 30 seconds preceding the 3 p.m. gathering, and several events scheduled for Thursday, including the announcement of this year's winners of the Morehead-Cain Scholarship, were postponed.

Carson, a pre-med major studying both political science and biology, was active in both leadership and service roles while she was a student. As a Morehead-Cain scholar, she spent her summers volunteering and working overseas in Ecuador, Egypt and Ghana.

She was also a tutor at Githens Middle School in Durham her junior year and an assistant coach with Girls on the Run in 2005.

"Eve Carson personified the Carolina spirit. She did it, perhaps, more profoundly than anyone I've known my whole time here," Moeser said. "She felt the very pulse and heartbeat of this university."

Meanwhile, Chapel Hill police have issued a be-on-the-lookout bulletin for Carson's blue 2005 Toyota Highlander with Georgia license plate AIV-6690.

With no suspects or possible motives, officers spent Wednesday and Thursday following up and searching for leads in the case.

"We're at the very beginning of this investigation," Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Currin said at a news conference Thursday. "A lot of it, up to this point, was just trying to figure out who the victim was."

Currin urged anyone with information to contact the Chapel Hill Police Department at 919-968-2760 or Crime Stoppers at 919-942-7515.

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin said the town is also reeling from Carson's death.

"Eve Carson was a person who touched lives throughout this town and campus," he said. "Her service as student body president, a member of the (UNC) Board of Trustees and other ways only provides a glimpse of the person that Eve was."

"She was happy, vivacious, intelligent, engaged and a presence in our community whose absence leaves a permanent void in our hearts and in our lives."

Sad, just sad.