5 Wounded in Campus Shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore: 'It Was Chaos'
Shots rung out on campus amid homecoming celebrations, according to authorities
Five people were shot and wounded at Morgan State University in Baltimore on Tuesday night, according to authorities.
At around 9:25 p.m., university police “heard discharge and responded to the scene,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said during a news conference Tuesday after the shooting.
Upon arrival, the Baltimore Police Department discovered five victims with gunshot wounds between the ages of 18 to 22 — four males and one female — with non-life-threatening injuries, Worley said.
MSU Police Chief Lance Hatcher said during the news conference that four of the five victims were students, while the university's President David Wilson added that the “unfortunate situation erupted” shortly after the coronation of Mister & Miss Morgan State at the Murphy Fine Arts Center for homecoming week.
“We were outside of our coronation, basically they let out and everybody was leaving, and then we see two gunshots hit the front window and everyone just started running,” an MSU student named David told CNN affiliate WBALTV. “It was chaos.”
Immediately, the department issued a warning on X (formerly Twitter): “BPD is on scene of an active shooter situation in the 1700 block of Argonne Drive. We’re asking everyone to shelter in place and avoid the area.”
“At the same time, we have now learned that multiple windows shattered and made our officers believe that we had an active shooter,” Worley said Tuesday night, “so we immediately put our emergency response for an active shooter in place.”
“The area was cordoned off. We set up a command post,” he stated, adding that BPD SWAT — along with federal, local and other jurisdictions — arrived to clear campus buildings.
WJZ reporter Amy Kawata posted a video on X shared with her by MSU student Keimani Bell, which Kawata wrote showed “SWAT officers going door to door and clearing the building during the campus lockdown following the shooting last night."
Worley said there are no suspects at this time, and that the investigation is ongoing.
Related: Off-Duty Sheriff's Deputy Is Killed in Shooting Outside Baltimore Bar; Suspect Arrested
Later on Tuesday night, the BPD posted on X that the incident was “no longer considered an Active Shooter Situation, but everyone was "still asked to shelter in place.”
On Wednesday, MSU announced on X that all classes were canceled for the day, adding that counseling services would be available to all students.
“The repetition of these horrific events is about 1 thing: easy access to guns,” Maryland state Senator Bill Ferguson wrote on X. “This doesn't happen at our rate in places where guns aren't immediately available."
He concluded, "Should we focus on mental health issues and the like, of course. But we as a society have a choice: more guns or less."
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