One fatally shot at Texas Southern
HOUSTON—A student was killed and another person was wounded during a shooting outside at Texas Southern University student-housing complex on Friday, and police have detained two men for questioning, authorities said.
The university quickly went on lockdown after the shooting was reported around 11:30 a.m. in a parking lot at the University Courtyard Apartments, a university-owned complex on the edge of the Houston campus. Students and teachers were told to stay inside until the lockdown was lifted Friday afternoon after the two men were detained, but police said no arrests have been made.
The incident marked the third shooting on or near the campus in less than a week, though it’s unclear whether the shootings were related. Friday’s shootings also came the same day as a fatal shooting at Northern Arizona University, and about a week after eight students and a teacher were fatally shot at a community college in Oregon.
“Like President Obama says, this is getting to be too regular,” Texas Southern President John Rudley said during a Friday afternoon news conference.
Rudley said the Texas Southern student who was killed was a freshman, though his name and age haven’t been released. The second victim, whose name also hasn’t been released, was shot twice and is hospitalized in stable condition, Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said.
Rudley urged the school’s roughly 9,700 students to be more vigilant, noting that “we’re in the inner city. Crime is all around us.” He also criticized what he said was a culture among some students who believe they shouldn’t snitch on each other.
Silva said police were still searching for a third man and were trying to determine a motive in the shooting.
She wouldn’t say whether police believed the suspected shooter was in custody. She noted that police aren’t treating the case as an “active shooter” investigation, in part because witnesses said the shooter wasn’t moving from place to place and fled the scene after the shooting.
The fatal shooting came just hours after another shooting near the same student-housing complex injured one person; in response to the pre-dawn shooting, the university said it would increase police on campus. On Tuesday, university police said a shooting after a poetry slam on campus injured another man.
“My main concern is what they’re going to do now,” Daijsa Fowls, a 19-year-old pharmacy student from Houston, said as she stood outside the housing complex’s gate Friday afternoon. “I’m supposed to be moving on campus and it shakes me up.”