UPDATE 4:45 PM Wednesday - Morgan State University will cancel or postpone planned homecoming week events following a shooting Tuesday night that wounded four students and one other person on campus. Classes for the rest of the week have also been canceled at Maryland's largest historically-Black university.
University president David Wilson made the announcement late Wednesday afternoon after convening a meeting of his executive cabinet in the morning. "Regarding Homecoming, regrettably for the very first time in Morgan’s history all activities planned around Homecoming will be either cancelled or postponed until the perpetrator(s) of this atrocity have been found and brought to justice," Wilson said in a statement on the university's website.
Canceled are the homecoming concert, parade, and pep rally, as well as a women's volleyball match and a silent headphones party. Saturday's football game between Morgan State and Stony Brook has been postponed, as has the school's homecoming gala.
Earlier version of the story below
Five people were shot on the campus of Morgan State University late Tuesday night, interrupting a week of homecoming festivities. Baltimore Police say the injuries are not life threatening. Four of those who were wounded are students at the school.
Classes are canceled Wednesday. On the university website, students in need of assistance are urged to contact the University Counseling Center by calling 443-885-3130 or online via UWill Counseling Services.
The shooting took place just after the university's annual crowning of its homecoming court at the Murphy Fine Arts Center, although the gunfire erupted on another part of campus. An active shooter and shelter in place warning was issued immediately following the shooting while authorities searched the area. It was lifted a few hours later.
At a late Wednesday morning press conference at City Hall, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley says they recovered multiple weapons but do not know how many shooters are responsible. “The problem is the ballistics has to tell us how many guns there were that were shot," Worley reported. "We know that there was it looks like it was probably a dispute between two smaller groups. And then one individual was a target of two individuals who had weapons.” Police believe all five individuals injured were unintended targets.
Worley appeared at that press conference alongside Mayor Brandon Scott, who called for stronger gun control on a national level following Baltimore's second mass shooting in three months. In July, two teens were killed and nearly thirty others wounded during a shooting at a block party in the city's Brooklyn neighborhood. “They should ban ghost guns. Period. They should remove the immunity for gun manufacturers. Period. They should ban assault rifles and magazines, Period," said Scott Wednesday. "They should be taken off… no one should be able to walk into a Walmart or Bass Pro Shops and buy a weapon that you need four months of military training to use and you can just go and buy it yourself.”
In a statement released Wednesday morning, Morgan State president David Wilson said he will meet with his executive cabinet before deciding how the rest of the homecoming week activities will continue. "What happened on our campus was such a senseless act of violence perpetrated on our community," the statement from Wilson said. "It was so disappointing to learn of what took place especially after what was a family-filled and fun evening of celebrating the pageantry and beauty of our students. But rest assured, our Morgan family is strong and we will march on with determination to keep moving on.
Democratic Congressman Kweisi Mfume also put out a statement Wednesday morning. "Because of the cowardly acts of potentially multiple individuals with guns, the lives of innocent young people at Morgan State were gravely put at risk," it read. "It sickens all of us that no place is safe from this type of gun violence. Mass shootings in Baltimore and this flagrant disregard for human life will never be allowed to become the norm. Be assured that the vicious criminal(s) responsible for this will be convicted, punished, and removed from our streets. We remain Morgan proud and Baltimore strong."
