At least seven people were shot amid homecoming festivities at Lincoln University, one of the nation’s first historically Black colleges, authorities said Saturday night.
“At this time, seven gunshot victims have been identified,” Chester County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dana Moore said in a statement. The extent of their injuries was not immediately available.
Local, state and federal law enforcement officials are investigating, Moore said.
Witnesses told NBC Philadelphia crowds started running from reported gunfire on the campus near Oxford, Pennsylvania, in Chester County, around 9 p.m. Saturday.
Though the nature of the shooting was not clear, Chester County Commissioner Eric Roe said in a statement that, “It appears there has been a mass shooting there tonight.” He called for people to join him in prayer for students, faculty and law enforcement.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he’s offered the state’s “full support” to the school’s president, Brenda Allen, and local law enforcement.
“Please avoid the area, continue to follow the guidance of local law enforcement, and join Lori and me in praying for the Lincoln University community,” the governor said on X.
Two women on campus for Yardfest, a homecoming week event, told NBC Philadelphia that they didn’t hear gunfire but joined a large crowd of people running away from their location at about 9 p.m.
“It was just a stampede of people,” said Ajia Hopkins, who accompanied friend and Lincoln alumna Dahjai Roger to the event Saturday. “There was no explanation after the running.”
Rogers said her friends were safe, but three of them fell in the rush to get away.
Speaking on its Instagram account, Lincoln said counselors will be available to students on Sunday morning, but it otherwise offered little information on the shooting.
Lincoln University says on its website that it is “the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU).”
Saturday’s gunfire follows a separate shooting Friday night near Howard University, another historically Black college, in Washington, D.C. Five people suffered non-life-threatening injuries in that attack, NBC Washington reported. Police said none of the victims attend Howard, about about 120 miles south-southwest of Lincoln.
First Appeared on
Source link
