Two people were killed early Wednesday morning in a deadly shooting on Louisiana’s Grambling State University Campus outside a residence hall, reports Bustle.
As of Wednesday morning, local outlets and The Associated Press report that the shooter was still on the run. Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s spokesman Stephen Williams gave a statement that they were responding to a double homicide and assisting campus police. They are still reviewing surveillance footage from the area. Local media outlets have also identified the two victims as Earl Andrews, 23, and Monquiarius Caldwell, 23. One of them was a senior at the university.
Police responded to a call early Wednesday morning from a female student near the dorms, according to reports. She said she had heard gunshots in the area, and other students confirmed it had been five or six shots. When officers were dispatched to the area, they found both victims were already dead.
2 dead in overnight shooting on Grambling State Univ campus in LA. More in Alert Center on @WMCActionNews5 this morning. (photos: @KSLA) pic.twitter.com/1vjUrGm5nu
— Kendall Downing (@kendall_downing) October 25, 2017
With the shooter still not found, students have been told to stay inside their dorm rooms for now. The university’s residential life Twitter posted this: “Students, for your own safety and security please remain in your campus res Hall until you are given further information. Thank you,” and they used the hashtag #GramFam. There are no updates to the university’s Twitter or Facebook pages as of Wednesday morning.
In an official statement, university spokesman Will Sutton said, “Our prayers go out to the victims and their families. Violence has no place on our campus. We will fully cooperate with the police investigation.”
Grambling State opened in 1901 as an industrial and agricultural school. A historically black college, it is home to more than 5,000 students pursuing degrees in a wide variety of fields.
#GramFam Students, for your own safety and security please remain in your campus res Hall until you are given further information.Thank you
— GSU Residential Life (@gsureslife) October 25, 2017
Unfortunately, this kind of incident is not anywhere close to new. The last few decades are populated with college campus shootings that have caused the deaths and injuries of far too many Americans. Just earlier this month, a shooting took place on the Virginia State Campus, where people were “only” injured. The largest university campus shooting to date remains the shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007, where 32 were killed in a classroom and at a dorm. The Department of Education ended up giving the university a fine for not having warned students soon enough.
Virginia Tech’s shooting resulted in some changes to Virginia’s state laws regarding gun carrying. Nothing has changed in federal law. No matter if the most recent shooting was at a college campus, an LGBTQ nightclub, an elementary school, or most recently, a music festival, no federal law on gun control has made it past the planning stages. As of right now, the only controlled weapons in Louisiana are concealed carry weapons.
In spite of the current situation, or perhaps because of it, Sutton still says all Homecoming activities and classes will happen as planned today.