Woman shot dead at DSU was visiting a student. Multiple persons of interest are sought
The 18-year-old woman shot dead at Delaware State University early Sunday was visiting a student, a university spokesperson told Delaware Online/The News Journal.
Details of some of what occurred before the woman's deadly shooting are trickling out as DSU and Dover police continue to investigate the incident at Delaware's only historically black college early Sunday. The fatal shooting comes at a time when federal data is showing crimes reported by university and college campuses are rebounding to pre-pandemic levels.
"While there is no clear indication that this was a random targeting of students," Carlos Holmes, a DSU spokesperson, said, "please understand that the investigation is still ongoing and all angles are being looked at."
Holmes said there was a "Silent Headphone Party" going on at the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, but that does not appear to be connected to the shooting.
He added there are multiple persons of interest being sought.
Crimes increasing at university and college campuses
Crime reported from nearly 6,000 institutions rose about 8% from 2019, even though enrollments dipped in the same timeframe. The jump in offenses between 2019 and 2022 coincided with students' post-pandemic return en masse to campuses. Compared with year-over-year changes before 2019, as reported by USA TODAY, the recent spike represents the largest increase since post-secondary institutions that receive federal funding began reporting campus safety statistics.
It’s been a few years since gun violence touched Delaware State University's campus.
2022
In 2022, four people were shot — two of whom were students. In the early hours of Sept. 3, a non-student began firing into a crowd near the campus basketball courts.
A university spokesman said, at the time, the two injured students were an 18-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man. Despite repeated requests for ages of the two other victims, the university has not provided that information to date.
The DSU emergency alert said the shooting was part of a robbery, but there were no suspects as of 5:21 a.m. — the time the alert was sent. The alert also stated the shooting occurred at 1:45 a.m., nearly a half hour after Dover police reported being called to campus.
2015
Three people were shot during the April 18, 2015, Greek Cookout, an outdoor fraternity and sorority party located on the lawn behind the recreation center. There were disturbances at the previous year’s cookout, but nothing as serious as a shooting.
No arrests were reported in the 2015 incident.
2014
Two men were charged in connection with a failed drug deal that resulted in a student being shot in a DSU dorm parking lot on Nov. 3, 2014.
The pair went to a DSU dorm to buy marijuana from a student, who drew a gun and was shot in the chest as they struggled over the weapon, according to court documents. The two men charged were not DSU students.
2007
And on Sept. 21, 2007, Shalita Middleton and Nathaniel Pugh, both DSU freshman, were wounded in a campus shooting.
Pugh, who was shot in the ankle, recovered, but Middleton died on Oct. 23, 2007. Then-DSU freshman Loyer Braden was charged with Middleton’s second-degree murder and other crimes, but a judge dismissed the charges in May 2009 after ruling that the state withheld evidence from defense attorneys.
Prosecutors later said there was a miscommunication with police, and they would not seek to overturn the judge's ruling because a different witness recanted his story, undermining the case.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Woman shot dead at DSU was visiting a student at the campus