Morgan State shooting wounded five innocent bystanders in ‘fight’

Five young people, including four Morgan University students, have been revealed as the shooting’s victims.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said each sustained non-life threatening injuries and all are receiving treatment.

“Preliminarily at this time we know there are five victims, aged 18 to 22,” he said.

“We believe all have non-life threatening injuries at this time. There were four males and one female.”

It is not known if any of the victims were known to the shooter or shooters.

A “beautiful” and “ritualistic” event was held on Morgan State University’s campus immediately before the shooting, according to the college’s president.

David Wilson told reporters countless students had gathered on Monday night to watch the coronation of Mr and Miss Morgan State University.

“This is a ritualistic event on the campus of Morgan State University at the commencing of homecoming week,” he said.

“This was an unbelievably beautiful event this evening and our students at the end of that were headed over to the student centre to rejoice and enjoy themselves when this unfortunate situation erupted on the campus.”

Mr Wilson said the event meant the campus’ auditorium was “almost filled to capacity” just before the chaos erupted.

Classes at Morgan State University will be cancelled for at least one day as the college deals with the aftermath of its shooting.

University president David Wilson made the announcement to reporters early on Tuesday morning, hours after the chaos erupted.

“I have cancelled classes here at Morgan tomorrow and we can asses what will happen for the rest of the homecoming week as early as tomorrow morning,” he said.

The university is in the middle of its homecoming week which brings together students, parents and alumni on campus

Baltimore police have refused to confirm if there were multiple gunmen involved in the Morgan State University shooting.

BPD Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters the force “can’t confirm” any information in relation to who was involved.

“That’s still part of the ongoing investigation, we can’t release that right now,” Mr Worley said.

He confirmed no arrests had been made in relation to the shooting.

Baltimore City Council Member Ryan Dorsey previously claimed on Twitter that “there were three shooters firing into the crowd”.

Baltimore’s mayor has made a fresh plea calling for an end to gun violence in the wake of the Morgan State University shooting.

Brandon Scott spoke out during an early morning press conference saying the issue needed addressing across the country.

“It reminds us all, that we are dealing, not just here in Baltimore, not just at Morgan State University, but across the United States,” Mr Scott said.

“(It is) an epidemic when it comes to guns and gun violence and it’s time for us to get serious about that, not just at the local level where we’ve recovered over 2100 guns but at the national level.”

Mr Scott previously worked on an ambitious plan to curb the city’s rampant gun violence and made the issue central to his mayoral platform.

A student representative has questioned officials’ response to campus safety at Morgan State University.

The unnamed student addressed Morgan State University Police Chief Lance Hatcher at the post-shooting press conference.

“This is the third consecutive year we’ve had a shooting during homecoming week and homecoming celebrations on campus despite the increse of security measures” she said.

“What do you say to students who feel unsafe and don’t feel comfortable going to class.”

Mr Hatcher slapped down the claims not enough was being done to combat on campus violence.

“First I’d like to say, we take their safety very, very seriously and we do everything humanly possible to ensure their safety,” he said.

“So we do everything humanly possible to ensure their safety. We’ve taken extraordinary measures to bring additional security resources to campus.

“Unfortunately individuals come on the campus and act poorly.”

Four of the five victims in the latest shooting are Morgan State University students. All received non-life threatening injuries.

Countless parents and alumni were at Morgan State University for homecoming celebrations on the night of the shooting.

President David Wilson said the college was kicking off its annual homecoming week with a ceremony to crown Mr and Ms Morgan State.

“We typically have parents coming from all over the state, all over the United States to witness their sons and daughters being crowned Mr and Ms whatever organisation they’re representing,” he said.

“This was an unbelievably beautiful event this evening and our students at the end of that were headed over to the student centre to rejoice and enjoy themselves when this unfortunate situation erupted on the campus.

“Since that time I have met with our students, I have met their parents, I have escorted them to their residential halls, I have ensured they get to where they need to go for the rest of the evening.”

The homecoming week is designed to lead up to the first football game on Saturday.

No parents or alumni were injured in the shooting.

Morgan State University’s mass shooting on Monday night was not the first time gun violence has plauged its homecoming week.

One student was shot during a party reportedly held outside the college’s student centre during last year’s celebrations.

Another student was shot while in a fight during the week in 2021.

No arrests have been made in relation to the Morgan State University shooting and the identities of any potential perpetrators remains unknown.

Richard Worley, the city’s police commissioner, said the location of those responsible remains unknown.

“The area was cordoned off, set up a command post and officers basically went to different buildings,” he said.

“We secured several buildings. We did not locate the suspect at the time.

The scene remains active and we are working alongside our many law enforcement partners to piece together everything that exactly happened.

Mr Worley went on to detail the suspect may have quickly fled the scene on foot.

“We didn’t open the campus up until our SWAT team had cleared the building where the suspect may have ran, or where we thought the shot came from,” he said.

Morgan State University is a historically Black college that is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in Maryland.

It had more than 9,000 enrolled students with 7,609 undergraduates and 1,392 postgraduates in 2022.

Morgan State was founded in 1867 and officially became a higher education institution in 1975.

The university hit the headlines in 2020 when billionaire MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, made a $40 million endowment.