On February 25th the female student was heading to lunch on NSU’s campus. While in her car directly across from Babbette Smith South, (an all-male freshman dorm) she heard a “pop” thinking she could’ve ran over something.
Once parked and out of the car, she heard the pops several more times and then felt a pain in her right buttocks. She soon realized that she had been shot by what she deemed to be a group of shooters because she could hear multiple people laughing and joking about the situation from where the shots came from. The group then proceeded to throw a bottle of urine at her which did not hit her. WTKR reported that she in fact was hit with the bottle, even though the victim has “repeatedly” said that she wasn’t.
Norfolk City Police arrived to the scene and they deemed the incident a university matter. The case was then handed it over to NSU police , no action was taken to lock the dorm down so that the weapon could be confiscated properly.
Their search was conducted while students were free to come in and out of the dormitory. The victim stated “They did not lock the building down at all or notify students to stay away from the area. Rather, I watched as people were able to leave the building while they searched the dorm. Because of no building or campus lockdown I am sure the shooter(s) escaped. Campus police didn’t find the weapon. Those students at this very moment still have that BB Gun.”
The incident which happened last Wednesday has received local media attention but the victim said the school has done little to nothing about the shooting. “I was never followed up with after the fact. On Monday I had to call campus police and ask why I hadn’t been. I was told by campus police that the detective on my case was busy ‘tending to other cases’. Quite frankly, I don’t know what could’ve been more important than such a violent attack.“
She stated “I don’t even have a case number.”
According to the victim, NSU campus has a zero tolerance policy for bullying and BB guns. She stated that the first time she received any follow up information was Tuesday March 3rd. “That is nearly a week later!” The student says NSU failed to report the incident in the daily crime log for six days. NSU chief of police Theodore Price, recently released this statement Tuesday, March 3rd:
“The BB gun case remains under investigation. A report of the incident was taken, however, it was not included in the daily log. This was an error on our part, and lessons learned from this experience are that we must ensure that all staff are aware of the Clery Act reporting requirements as well as our responsibility to provide timely communication to the university community in emergency situations. Key personnel will begin meeting tomorrow to review our emergency policies and procedures. Norfolk State University is committed to creating a safe and inviting atmosphere for all students, faculty, staff and guests.”
When asked in an interview with HBCU Buzz, why she chose to remain anonymous the victim stated,
“I want my voice to be heard but I don’t want my identity to be associated with it. I don’t want this to this to hinder me for applying for graduate school, I don’t want my peers to mistreat me or administration to mistreat me.”
