Morgan State University to build wall around campus after homecoming shooting left 5 wounded
A wall will soon wrap around most of Morgan State University — one of several new security measures prompted by an on-campus shooting that left five people wounded earlier this month.
The new wall will extend existing barriers by about 8,000 feet to encircle 90% of campus and effectively “eliminate unfettered access,” university President David Wilson said during a campus-wide town hall on Tuesday. He added the school plans to ask the Maryland state legislature and congressional delegation for $22,225,000 to spend on security upgrades, including $6.4 million for the wall, $4 million for electronic locks and another $3 million on cameras, the Baltimore Sun reported.
“We’re doing this, let me be clear, not to keep out our neighbors and our community writ large; we are doing it to keep out the bad actors,” Wilson said.
Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The campus of Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The announcement came exactly one week after gunfire erupted during homecoming celebrations on the historically Black campus in Baltimore.
The violence kicked off around 9:30 p.m., shortly after a coronation ceremony for this year’s Mister and Miss Morgan State was held in the campus auditorium. Attendees dressed in formalwear were strolling from the event to the student center for a coronation ball when the shooting started.
University police officers already on patrol rushed toward the gunfire and quickly discovered four men and a woman suffering gunshot wounds. The victims, all between the ages of 18 and 22 years old, include four students. They were all hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
This image provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows two people of interest in the shooting at Morgan State University that left five people injured, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. (Courtesy of Baltimore Police Department via AP)
No arrests have been made, but Baltimore police have released surveillance images of persons of interest and asked the public for help identifying them. An investigation into the matter is ongoing, but police have said the shooting appeared to stem from a dispute involving at least two people.
None of the victims are believed to be the intended targets.
With News Wire Services
