Posted on 09/21/2007 5:44:59 AM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
2 students shot at Delaware State University; campus on lockdown as police search for gunman Friday, September 21, 2007
DOVER, Delaware - Two students were shot at Delaware State University early Friday and the campus was locked down as police searched for a gunman, officials said. Classes were canceled for the day.
A male student was hospitalized in stable condition, and a female student was hospitalized with injuries that are considered serious, according to a news release on the university's Web site. "They could be potentially life-threatening," university spokesman Carlos Holmes said. Police hoped to find out more information once the victims were able to talk. "We haven't had a chance to talk to them yet, and that's probably a big reason why the suspect is still at large," Holmes told KYW-TV of Philadelphia. The students were shot around 1 a.m., the news release said. Students were instructed to stay in their residence halls until further notice, and nonessential university employees were told not to report to work. At the university's main entrance, swing-arm gates were down to prevent people from driving onto campus. A historically black college founded in 1890 as the State College for Colored Students, Delaware State had about 3,600 students from 38 states and 31 countries in 2006. The 400-acre (162-hectare) campus was surrounded Friday by groups of recreational vehicles belonging to NASCAR fans in town for this weekend's races at the Dover Downs Speedway.
(Excerpt) Read more at home.peoplepc.com ...
I am still one of the locals in Dover. In fact, when I went by DSU this am, there were about 10 news crews with satellites on their vans, parked across the street filming the front of the campus. Jostling for elbow space next to them were NASCAR fans setting up grills and chairs.
The shooter was another student, although they haven’t caught him yet, it sounds like they know who they’re looking for. And the comments about NASCAR fans had nothing to do with race (not *car* race...*color* race) and everything to do with the police force, traffic already being jammed up, newscrews, etc. DSU usually has parking set up in their fields and lots for race fans but probably won’t this weekend. They don’t need 2000 more people wandering around campus during a crime investigation.
Locally, it just seems like everyone is saying it’s shame considering they already lost several students earlier this summer. And also a shame that people use guns to settle what was probably just a verbal feud earlier in the evening. That’s what our customers were pretty much saying today, that and wondering why a college student is ‘carrying’ on campus anyway.
ktscarlett -who is one of the hunkering down ones this weekend.
ROFLMSS!!!! I know what you're talking about.
I've only been gone 4 years, and I'm only 2 hours south on 13. So I'm pretty much still a local :)
The attempts here today, even before I read the nastiness at the NJ site, to turn this in to a racial thing really, really bothered me.
OOPS - forgot to mention - I maintain the “DelMarVa” ping list which is a very low level list, would you be interested in being added?
Honestly, I forgot it was race weekend until I got to the highway. I was running to the mall for something I really needed to get on my break and when I got to the highway (where the Ag Museum is) I thought “OMG, How did I not remember this???” And this was about 10am today.
I will say that Sunday, from about 1-3 is a great time to hit Dover Mall, lol. Rt 13 is deserted and no one is in the parking lot except the race fans. You pretty much have the mall to yourself. I can’t believe the crowds this days - it’s like a carnival for about a 2 mile strip. The tents, the vendors, the pedestrians...unbelievable. I worked at the races when I was in HS (in the 80s) and it was small beans compared to now.
I will say I got an interesting proposition from a pickup truck full of guys stopped at the light next to me though...lol.
Sure, and thanks!
I remember those time of forgetting it was race week.......believe me, I do not miss it in the least!!!!
The racial questions are arising because there was a Jena 6 rally on campus, earlier in the evening.
I beg to differ.
The only reason any racial questions are arising is because it is Race weekend and there are thousands of NASCAR fans in Dover nearly tripling the populatio of the the city.
The campus is directly across US Rte13 from the race track.
I don’t believe the racial questions are arising from the Jena6 rally either, locally speaking. I live in Dover and didn’t know about the rally. There was a picture in the local newspaper about the rally today (hours after the shooting) that showed 4 teens. That was it.
No one I spoke to all day knew about the rally, although all had heard about the shooting. There was nothing on the local radio about the rally, either earlier this week or today. It wasn’t a part of the local broadcasts about the shooting, and I can assure you that 99.99% of the NASCAR fans have their headsets tuned to WDSD where they give live coverage of the race. They aren’t concerned with what is going on 4 lanes over across the highway other than to hope everyone is ok. They’re too busy going to Denney’s and Applebys the Acme and hitting Raceway Liquors.
**This from a lifelong resident of the area and one who used to work NASCAR races.
I went past the campus today and looked at all the news crews in Best Buys/Michaels parking lot. I was right there at the light and had to wait and I watched all of them with their satellites and their cameras and watched all of them filming and I thought “WHY???”
They were filming the front entrance of the university. That’s it. I wondered why a still shot wouldn’t do as well. It was as if they expected something to *happen* in front of the cameras. All just milling around....
Weird. Maybe I’m just not used to CNN/FOX etc in Dover.
The reason that I mentioned the rally is because the president of the college mentioned it in his first statement, warning people not to draw and conclusions regarding a relationship between the shootings and the rally.
And he was exactly correct. Unlike ktscarlett66, I was never a livelong Dover resident, and although I did live there for 21 years I no longer do, but still keep up with what is going on.
I was very active locally and have long been aware of racial tensions in the area.
I am no fan of the MSM, however I did find comments by FReepers accusing the MSM of fomenting racism by mentioning the NASCAR fans to be totally out of line.
The only reason this made national news is because it is race weekend in Dover and all the national media has representatives in town. Most folks have probably never heard of DSU and are unfamiliar with the layout of Dover, however many would be familiar with the location of the track and it only makes sense to mention its proximity for a geographical reference.
Additionally there are an extra 100,000 people in town this weekend because of the race and law enforcement is already stretched without the addition of a shooting and possible manhunt added to the mix.
Honey, it's race week in Dover, they were here anyway.
Yeah, I know but usually they’re all back on DD’s grounds, in the pits and infield. I don’t usually get to wave at them when I’m stopped at a red light!
And I agree because outside of the students, I don’t think the general population of Dover even knew there was a rally being held. There was some little blurb about it in the paper yesterday, a photo with a caption of a couple of 12 and 16 year olds. The rally wasn’t public knowledge. I haven’t talked to anyone who even knew about it.
This just proves that “zero tolerance” doesn’t do jack!
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