Karsceal Turner – I Got NEXT!
Three people were shot on the campus of Bethune-Cookman University. The shooting occurred in a parking lot between the band practice field and the Music building, according to DBPD reports.
It is believed the victims were students according to B-CU officials. All three were reported to have non-life threatening injuries as one was grazed on an ear, one was grazed on the arm, and another was grazed on the leg. The three were all taken to Halifax Medical Center and released.
According to police spokesman Jimmie Flynt, “there was some type of altercation on campus. Some guys in a silver car started firing rounds, about six or seven shot.
The three were innocent bystanders in the incident, which occurred around 6:00p.m. Monday evening. DBPD is still looking for others who may have been involved. A man was seen running away with a backpack.” The shooter is still at-large according to officials.
Classes went on as scheduled Tuesday morning at the Daytona Beach-based University. B-CU president Dr. Edison O. Jackson addressed the B-CU community in the B-CU Performing Arts Center, located on campus. I was among those who listened in.
I caught a little static about taking pics although I watched a news crew from News Channel 13 walk out of the PAC minutes earlier. Look man, I was just doing me. Excuse the hell out of me for believing my credentials as a writer/reporter are just as valid as the television crew. To boot, I happen to be a B-CU alum and supporter, who just happens to write a column. Guess where I developed my skills as a writer. Anyway, you’re reading the fruits of my labors right here. They might not let me back on campus, imagine THAT. But you can’t.
Dr. Jackson calls for B-CU community “Town Hall Meeting”
Jackson was adamant about exposing those responsible for the shooting. With a backdrop of B-CU’s former presidents, the head Cat, and brother of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. made it perfectly clear that such a ruckus has no place on a place of higher learning. He urged students to be mindful of what is posted on social media about the university in order to maintain its branding.
“Threats against the university or any of its students, faculty, and staff will not be tolerated,” Jackson urged to a rousing applause.
“We must show that we have a safe environment and are doing everything in our power to identify those involved. We want them removed from B-CU and the community.
Jackson also asked students who may be affiliated with those involved in the shooting to please step forward. Security of the century-old university has been increased and vigilance throughout the B-CU community was also stressed.
Jackson took things one step further by announcing rewards of $1000 and $500 for arrests and information leading to conviction or to anyone who comes forth with information about guns on B-CU’s campus. He also promised a swift return home for any students possessing guns on campus. “Guns are not permitted on campus,” Jackson stressed.
Shooting brings home remembrances of FSU/UCF shootings
The news of the shooting follows fresh on the heels of reports of a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee last November. It brings this story to your doorstep if you have college-aged children. Clearly it doesn’t matter if it is a mainstream university like Florida State or a HBCU like Bethune-Cookman. All bigots may have several seats now.
Students huddled together in the aisles of the packed FSU campus library after a gunman opened fire, injuring three. Campus officers later shot the gunman to death after they asked him to drop his handgun, and he opened fire at them, authorities said.
“This is an isolated incident and one person acting alone,” Tallahassee police Chief Michael DeLeo said later. Well chief, I can’t bloody tell it’s an isolated incident.
In 2013, a former University of Central Florida (UCF) student who had planned to kill others changed his mind and instead killed himself. Authorities found a handgun, assault weapon and a bag of improvised explosive devices in the victim’s room.
Last year (January 2014), The University of Central Florida stated it would allow students to store guns in their locked cars on campus.
Meanwhile, The University of North Florida was sued for a policy which prevented students from bringing guns to campus even when the gun is left securely encased in a car. The court ruled a policy enacted by a state university, “to the extent it prohibits possession of securely encased firearms in motor vehicles, is illegal and unenforceable.”
Let us keep things as real as possible. Many students from various colleges and universities around the country come from communities where gunplay was a regular occurrence. Dr. Jackson told the students to leave the streets in the streets. I couldn’t agree more.
After President Jackson made his stance on weapons on campus crystal clear, Jackson urged students to develop a new attitude beholding the long, storied legacy of Bethune-Cookman University.
“We have to find other ways to resolve conflicts and disagreements. Violence can’t be the vehicle. There are better ways. We need a new attitude,” he concluded.
