Classes Canceled due to Shooting on Campus

Classes on the Dover campus of Delaware State University have been canceled for Friday, Sept. 21 in the wake of an early morning shooting at the institution that has left two students wounded and a suspect at large. All non-essential personnel are directed not to report to work on this day.



The primary priorities of the University at the point are the safety of the residential student population and the DSU Police investigation of the shooting. DSU Police Department with the assistance of the Dover Police Department are working toward the apprehension of the suspect.

The university is implementing a plan to provide essential services to its residential population on campus. Because the suspect is still at large, residential students are directed to remain in their residence halls for their safety until further notice.

At approximately 12:54 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 21, the Delaware State University Police Department was notified of an incident in which two students were shot on campus near Memorial Hall. A single male suspect is being sought, but has not yet been apprehended. The investigation is continuing with the assistance of other local police.

A male student and a female student were transported to hospitals within the state. The male student is in stable condition, however, the female student’s injuries are considered serious.

University personnel and students can check of updates on this situation through the DSU Website (www.desu.edu) and through the DSU Snow Phone # at (302) 857-SNOW (7669).



Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the DSU Police at 857-6290 or the DSU TIPS Line at 857-7918.

2 wounded in shooting at DSU
Staff and wire reports

Updated Friday, September 21, 2007 at 6:29 am

DOVER -- Police are looking for one person in the shooting of two students at Delaware State University in Dover early today.

A news release on the university Web site says two students were shot near Memorial Hall about 1 a.m. today. Local police agencies are assisting the University Police Department in the search for the gunman.

Students, faculty and staff at the university are being told to stay in their buildings.

Those not on campus are being told not to come to the campus until further notice.

An official with the Kent County fire board said an ambulance and paramedics were sent to the campus in regards to the shooting at about 1 a.m. today.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_re_us/delaware_state_shooting

This is terrible

This is another sad story from DSU. I have all in my prayers.

Cheeeeeeze and Riiiiiiice! My prayers are with the DSU community and I'll speak directly with God about the Cowardly Shooter

This is quite disturbing. I heard about this on the TJMS. My thoughts and prayers go out to the DSU Family

Va. Tech inspires Delaware St. response

22, 7:12 AM EDT


Va. Tech inspires Delaware St. response

By RANDALL CHASE
Associated Press Writer

Delaware State Locked Down Following Shooting

Delaware State Shooting

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Alex Bishoff heard five gunshots from inside his dorm room at Delaware State University and looked out his window to see people scattering. He immediately thought of the Virginia Tech shootings in April.

So did Delaware State officials. Even as two students who were shot were being transported to hospitals, campus police and residence hall advisers were knocking on doors and telling students to stay in their rooms.

Administrators mindful of the Virginia Tech massacre ordered a swift shutdown of the campus Friday, lowering gates to keep anyone from coming onto it, while police searched for the gunman.

"The biggest lesson learned from that whole situation at Virginia Tech is don't wait. Once you have an incident, start notifying the community," said university spokesman Carlos Holmes.

Students were warned within about 15 minutes, said Bishoff, 20, a freshman from Washington, D.C. "I think they handled it pretty well," he said.

The shootings, reported to police at 12:54 a.m. Friday, occurred as a group of students were returning from an on-campus cafe. A 17-year-old male student was in stable condition; a female student, also 17, was shot in the abdomen and in serious condition.

University police said they had identified two persons of interest, both students. Both were located and interviewed, though no arrests had been made by Friday night.

The students were shot on the Campus Mall, between the Memorial Hall gymnasium and Richard S. Grossley Hall, an administrative building. Investigators believed the shootings may have been preceded by an argument at the cafe, and officials said it did not appear to be random.

"This is an internal problem," university President Allen Sessoms said. "There are no externalities ... this is just kids who did very, very stupid things."

The male student, who was wounded in the ankle, refused to answer questions by police about the shootings, raising the likelihood that he knew his attacker, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

"This not an act of terrorism," said university police Chief James Overton. "This was not a crazed gunman who found his way onto campus."

Campus officials acted much more swiftly than officials at Virginia Tech did five months ago, when administrators delayed notifying students nearly two hours after gunman Seung-Hui Cho killed his first two victims. By then, he had already started shooting 30 other people in a classroom building across campus.

A report by a panel appointed by Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine concluded that lives could have been saved if alerts had been sent out earlier and classes canceled after Cho killed his first two victims.

At Delaware State, officials didn't wait. By 2:11 a.m., Overton was meeting with another university official to discuss the school's response. Notices were posted in dormitories and the school Web site by about 2:40 a.m., and the decision to cancel classes was made shortly after 5 a.m., well before the school day started.

At Virginia Tech, the rampage began at 7 a.m. as students thronged the campus and headed to morning classes; at Delaware State, it happened in the middle of the night, when many students were in their dorm rooms.

The panel that investigated the response to the Virginia Tech shootings noted that it would have been tough to shut down the 2,600-acre Tech campus; Delaware State is only about 400 acres. But it appears Delaware State responded to the crisis well, said Gerald Massengill, who led the group.

"I think just like post-9/11, there's a post-April 16 mentality," he said.

Officials said access to the campus would remain limited Saturday, and that Saturday classes, a weekend farmers market and an alumni meeting had been canceled.

Delaware State, a historically black, 400-acre school with 3,690 students, began the school year mourning victims of the Aug. 4 shootings that occurred at an elementary school in their hometown of Newark, N.J.

Natasha Aeriel, 19; her brother, Terrance Aeriel, 18, and Dashon Harvey, 20, were students. Iofemi Hightower, 20, had planned to attend Delaware State this fall. Natasha Aeriel, the only survivor, helped police identify six suspects who have been arrested.

Holmes said there was no indication that Friday's shooting was related in any way to the Newark, N.J., killings. Both of the victims in Friday's shootings were from the Washington, D.C., area, officials said.

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Associated Press writer Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to this report.

I hope all of us have a plan in place like DSU.

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Delaware State U. campus remains on edge after shooting; freshman arrested (U. Delaware)
By Sarah Kenney & Sarah Lipman
The Review (U. Delaware)
09/25/2007

NEWARK, Del. -- After a three-day investigation, the Delaware State University Police and Dover Police Departments arrested a freshman student Monday morning in relation to the on-campus shooting which occurred early Friday.

Loyer Braden, 18, was charged with one count each of attempted murder in the first-degree, assault in the first-degree, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and reckless endangering, according to DSU Police Chief James Overton.

Overton said although the investigation is ongoing, the arrest is a step forward for the university community.

"My students are safe," he said. "We have the shooter in custody and that's the most important part."

Following Braden's arrest, he was arraigned at Justice of the Peace Court 7 in Dover and admitted to a Delaware prison in lieu of $75,000 secured bail, Overton said.

Police reports stated a group of eight to 10 students left the Village Cafe sometime between midnight and 1 a.m. Friday, and congregated between the Grossley Hall and Memorial Hall.

At approximately 12:54 a.m. on Sept. 21, DSU police received a report of gunfire near the Memorial Hall gymnasium. Police said four to six shots were fired and two university students -- Shalita Middleton and Nathaniel Pugh -- were wounded.

Both students were 17-year-old freshmen from the Washington D.C. area. Middleton, a cheerleader, was shot twice in the abdomen and is listed in serious condition at Christiana Hospital. Pugh was shot once in the ankle and is listed in stable condition at Kent General Hospital in Dover.

University officials requested Friday that students living in residence halls remain indoors and faculty was told not to report to work. Campus remained on lockdown on Saturday, with limited access for athletic teams and student organizations, according to the DSU Web site. The campus was reopened and classes resumed Monday.

"The primary priorities of the university at this point are the safety of the residential student population and the DSU Police investigation of the shooting," the Web site stated in its first press release Friday.

At a press conference held Friday afternoon, officials discussed the nature of the case.

"This was not an act of terrorism," Overton said. "This was not a crazed gunman who found his way onto campus."

DSU President Allen Sessoms said the incident was contained to campus.

"This is an internal problem -- no externalities -- just kids who did very stupid things," Sessoms said.

At a press conference held Monday, Overton said there are no motives at this time.

He said he was not aware of allegations the shooting was motivated by an altercation on Tuesday, Sept. 18, in which an unidentified man allegedly spit in Braden's face.

The DSU campus is no stranger to tragedy. On Aug. 4, three university students were shot and killed execution-style in their hometown of Newark, N.J.

"We've been through difficult times and we know what it means to support the families," Sessoms said. "We are going to work to get to the bottom of whatever kinds of tensions exist on campus -- they're on every campus."

He said the university accepts students from across the country, some from difficult family backgrounds.

"We've seen that sometimes [students] can't even be safe when they go home," Sessoms said. "This is safer than most of the places they go back to."

He said he believed the university's response was immediate, due to new alert systems implemented after the tragedy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University.

"That's a lesson of Virginia Tech -- quick response," Sessoms said. "We communicated immediately. You can't believe people are going to read their e-mails at 1 o'clock in the morning. We went around and knocked on doors; we put fliers up in residence halls."

Immediately after the dispatch call to university police, DSU officials notified its residence hall staff of the shooting. By 2:01 a.m., the initial notification was completed.

At approximately 2:40 Friday morning, the campus was secured. Warning notifications were posted in all residence halls and on the university Web site and an emergency phone-line message was activated.

Senior Shadrack Minor said he was at a diner across the street when he was notified initially by a friend. He quickly received official word of the incident.

"By 1:15, I got a call and everything was locked down," Minor said. "Cop cars were flying in here; there were two or three helicopters, paramedics -- everything."

He said many students went home after the incident, but their departure was not unexpected due to the NASCAR races held in Dover over the weekend.

"People usually go home race weekends because it's so crowded," Minor said.

He said he believes DSU's campus is easily accessible, which could have facilitated the crime. Although students need identification to enter the front gates, Minor said the rear of the campus is not as secure.

He said he was not afraid to return to school.

"I still feel safe," Minor said. "Just take that extra look around to make sure no one's following you."

Senior Ashlee Todd said she was relaxing in her dorm room with some friends when one of them got a call saying a friend of his had been shot. The student who received the call wanted to go to the scene. Todd said she did not want him to go alone, so a group went with him at approximately 1:20 a.m.

She said most of her friends were initially skeptical about the shooting.

"At first, all of us thought it was a rumor," Todd said. "We figured nothing was happening. But it became real once we saw the cop cars, the police and the helicopters -- that's how we actually found out."

She said she and her roommate, Shanequa Ramsey, were horrified by the shooting.

"Out of the three years that we've been here, nothing like this has ever happened," Todd said. "We never thought it would happen on campus. Of course you hear about shootings happening in Delaware and around the campus, but not actually on campus."

Sessoms said he hopes the community can recover from the tragedy.

"Nobody expects things like this to happen and when they happen, you react as best you can," he said. "What's most important is the follow-up to make sure that there are no further surprises."
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