(Photo : Robyn BECK / AFP) (ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
A shooting at the Bowie State University left two individuals injured and prompted an investigation following a similar incident at the Morgan State University.
Maryland officials believe that more than one shooter was involved in the incident, leaving two people injured, both 19-year-olds.
The shooting occurred on Saturday night amid the Maryland school's homecoming weekend. The two injured individuals, identified as both men, were found with gunshot wounds at the historically Black university's Center for Business and Graduate Studies and were quickly transferred to a hospital.
Bowie State University Shooting
Officials revealed that neither of the teenagers were Bowie State students nor were they students of nearby Morgan State University. The latter is another historically Black college or university whose students were invited to Bowie State after their homecoming celebrations were interrupted by gunfire last week.
The two shooting incidents both underscored the United States' ongoing epidemic of gun violence as the issue continues to spill into everyday venues of daily life. Bowie State University police initially received reports of shots fired at around 11:45 p.m. on Saturday, as revealed by school officials in a Facebook post, as per CNN.
On Sunday, the assistant bureau chief for the state police, Maj. Kenny Brown said that the shooting is believed to be an isolated event. Officers from the Prince George County Police Department were also working this homecoming weekend amid the issue.
No suspects have been identified in the case so far, but law enforcement personnel are pursuing some leads, said Brown. He added that investigators preliminarily believe that more than one shooter was involved in the incident.
Bowie State is based in Prince George's County and is known to have roughly 6,408 students enrolled for the Fall 2023 semester, as seen on the university's website. The shooting incident at the college comes only a few days after a similar incident occurred at Morgan State University, roughly 45 minutes away.
During that incident, five people were shot during their homecoming week, and one student, Zakaria Smith, said that the shooting was overwhelming for many people. A junior at Bowie State University added that it was difficult to check what people were bringing onto campuses and that it was hard to regulate the types of people coming in, according to CBS News.
Gun Violence Cases
The Morgan State University shooting prompted an hours-long lockdown of the university as students were forced to hunker down while waiting for police to go room to room checking for potential suspects.
In a statement, Police Commissioner Richard Worley said that the five victims of the shooting were identified as four men and one woman, aged between 18 and 22. He noted during a Wednesday news conference that their injuries were not life-threatening.
On the other hand, Morgan State Police Chief Lance Hatcher said that four of the victims were students at the college. Police did not release information about a potential suspect or suspects, and Worley noted that investigators are still in the dark about how many shooters were involved in the attack.
The incident occurred shortly after the coronation of Mister & Miss Morgan State held at the Murphy Fine Arts Center, as students were heading to a campus ball. A sophomore from Baltimore, Konnor Crowder, said that he and his friends were waiting for the coronation to start when they suddenly saw people running away, according to the Associated Press.
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