Two males were shot at Bowie State University amid its Homecoming festivities on Saturday night, and the Maryland State Police are now looking into the incident.
Officers were called to Henry Circle nearby the Center for Business and Graduate Studies at about 11:45 p.m. for a report of a shooting. Beginning at 11:30 p.m., the school was placed under a shelter-in-place order that was lifted at three in the morning.
Five people were hurt during the homecoming festivities at Morgan State University just a few days prior to the incident. As a result, Bowie State had increased security before this weekend.
The two victims were taken to a hospital by Prince George’s County Fire & EMS. Their health status is unclear.
The victims are not believed to be Bowie State students, according to state police.
It was then revealed that two people, both males aged 19, who had been reported hurt in the shooting and brought to the hospital, had indeed been injured.
Police claimed one weapon was found at the scene, but they claimed there were multiple shooters during a press conference on Sunday morning.
They were neither students at Bowie State University nor at adjacent Morgan State University, another HBCU, whose students received invitations to Bowie State after their own homecoming festivities were ruined by gunshots last week. Both incidents highlighted how rampant gun violence is in America and how it keeps spreading into regular places of daily life.
People from all over, even alumni and community members from Morgan State, who were greeted after the remaining homecoming activities there were canceled as a result of Tuesday’s shooting, were arriving. This past weekend, the Bowie State campus was decorated in both universities’ colors.
There was no indication of a suspect or information on what might have preceded the shooting as of yet.
The inquiry is being handled by the Maryland state police.
In response to the massacre at Morgan State, university authorities announced they would tighten security in advance of Bowie State’s homecoming weekend.
According to the university’s website, Prince George’s County is home to Bowie State, which will have 6,408 students registered for the Fall 2023 semester.
According to a statement made by school authorities on Facebook, Bowie State University police initially learned of reports of gunfire at about 11:45 p.m. on Saturday.
According to Maj. Kenny Brown, senior bureau chief for the state police, the shooting is thought to have been an isolated incident. This homecoming weekend, officers from the Bowie State University Police Department, the Prince George County Police Department, and Maryland State Police troopers were all working.
The Leonidas S. James Physical Education Complex was going to host a homecoming after-party as well as a number of evening homecoming festivities on Saturday night at Bowie State, including comedy and music performances.
This is not typical for Bowie State University, according to Breaux, who noted that his campus is a calm place.
According to Breaux, the university will offer students 24-hour counseling services and will cancel classes on Monday.
Bowie State University’s Security Plans
Bowie State University would increase the number of armed and unarmed officers on campus, send security teams out on bikes to patrol neighborhoods, and use metal detectors and security wands for homecoming festivities, according to police chief and director of public safety Mark Cummings. Additionally, he stated that security cameras would be improved and upgraded and that additional lighting would be added to the campus’s gloomy regions.
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