Five people, including four Morgan State University students, were injured Tuesday night in a shooting during a homecoming week celebration at the HBCU.
The shooting prompted an hours-long lockdown of the school and the cancellation of classes on Wednesday.
The police have yet to locate a gunman or make any arrests.
The shooting happened shortly after the coronation of Mister & Miss Morgan State at the Murphy Fine Arts Center, as students were heading to a coronation ball at the University Student Center.
Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the victims — four men and a woman, ages 18-22, suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting. He would not say whether police believe there was one shooter or multiple shooters.
Worley and Morgan State University Police Chief Lance Hatcher said university police officers who were on patrol heard gunshots at about 9:25 p.m.
The police found multiple windows shattered, leading them to believe that there was an active shooter and activated the active shooter response protocols, said Worley. Police issued a shelter-in-place order and cleared buildings in the search for the suspect, who remains at large.
The shelter-in-place order was lifted early Wednesday, a decision that was made after it was determined that there was no longer an active shooter situation, Worley said.
“We didn’t open the campus up until our SWAT team had cleared the building where we thought the suspect may have ran or where we thought the shot came from,” Worley said. “They cleared every single floor twice.” He added that the police believe that the shooting had taken place outdoors.
Morgan State University President David Wilson said he plans to hold an emergency meeting Wednesday morning to decide whether or not to go forward with the remaining homecoming events.
“It is unfortunate that this tragedy happened here tonight,” Wilson said. “By no means will it define who we are as a university.”
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 410-396-2444 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7LOCKUP.
