BPD: Suspect at giant after 5 injured in taking pictures at Morgan State College

THEIR STUDENT. THAT’S EXACTLY RIGHT. AND WE’RE GOING TO TALK WITH HIM IN JUST A MOMENT. BUT FIRST, I JUST WANT TO LET PEOPLE KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THIS HAPPENED. IT HAPPENED IN THE SCENE BEHIND ME HERE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THURGOOD MARSHALL RESIDENCE HALL. AND IT HAPPENED AS THE MURPHY FINE ARTS CENTER, WHICH I AM FACING RIGHT NOW, WAS PACKED TO CAPACITY FOR HOMECOMING ACTIVITIES. THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE INSIDE. THERE WERE PEOPLE OUTSIDE MILLING ABOUT WHEN THOSE SHOTS WERE FIRED. AND FOR A TIME THEY THOUGHT THIS MIGHT HAVE BEEN AN ACTIVE SHOOTER. POLICE, BALTIMORE CITY POLICE INVOLVED, MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE ALONG WITH THE FBI AND ATF, DID AN EXTENSIVE SEARCH OF THE BUILDING BEHIND ME HERE. AND THEY DETERMINED THAT NO ONE WAS INSIDE. BUT AT THIS POINT, IT’S NOT CLEAR HOW MANY SHOOTERS MAY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THIS SITUATION LAST NIGHT. CAN YOU IMAGINE GETTING THAT PHONE CALL THAT THIS UNIVERSITY WHERE YOUR CHILD GOES HAS HAD THIS SORT OF SITUATION HAPPEN? THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT JOSE VERDIER FACED LAST NIGHT. AND YOU DROVE FROM NEW JERSEY TO GET YOUR FRESHMAN DAUGHTER. YES. YOU HEARD FROM A FAMILY FRIEND THAT THIS HAPPENED? YES. WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND? OH, IT IT WAS A JARRING PHONE CALL. I WAS AUTOMATIC. YOU KNOW, JUST YOU JUST AUTOMATICALLY CALL YOUR CHILD AND HOPE PRAY THAT THEY’RE OKAY. YOU DROVE FROM NEW JERSEY. YOU FELT VERY STRONGLY YOU WANTED TO COME AND GET YOUR KID. OH, YES, ABSOLUTELY. YEAH, I’M NOT ONLY JUST COME GET HER, BUT TO BE HERE WITH HER. SHE’S A FRESHMAN. SHE WAS IN THE LIBRARY AT THE TIME. YOU ACTUALLY HAD TO TELL HER WHAT WAS HAPPENING. SHE HADN’T HAD A NOTICE YET. NO, NO, NO. SHE DIDN’T KNOW. SHE. WHEN I CALLED HER, SHE SAID THEY WERE. THEY WEREN’T LETTING HER OUT. THE LIBRARY, LETTING THE STUDENTS OUT OF THE LIBRARY. AND I TOLD HER THERE WAS AN ACTIVE SHOOTER. SO THEN I COULD HEAR HER TURN AROUND UNTIL, LIKE, THE REST OR THERE’S A SHOOTING BECAUSE SHE SAID THEY DIDN’T HEAR GUNSHOTS FROM THE LIBRARY. SO I TOLD HER, STAY AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS. AND THEN, YOU KNOW, I TOLD HER, I’M GOING TO CALL YOU BACK. I CALLED MY WIFE AND SAID, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE TO HEAD OUT TO THE SCHOOL. THEN I CALLED MY DAUGHTER TO LET HER KNOW WE WERE ON HER WAY. HOW IS SHE DOING? SHE’S OKAY. SHE’S AFRAID TO GO BACK TO HER ROOM RIGHT NOW. SHE’S, YOU KNOW, A LITTLE ANXIOUS. AND AS A PARENT, YOU KNOW, YOU LET YOUR DAUGHTER GO AWAY TO SCHOOL, THEN YOU GET A CALL LIKE THIS AND YOU’RE YOU’RE NOT HAPPY, RIGHT NOW. WELL, I’M NOT HAPPY BECAUSE IF THIS IS REALLY THE THIRD TIME IN THIRD YEAR IN A ROW THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED DURING HOMECOMING WEEK, THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT MORE SECURITY PRESENCE. YOU KNOW, ONE TIME YOU CAN UNDERSTAND MAYBE THE SECOND TIME, BUT NOW, AFTER YOU KNOW, IT HAPPENED AGAIN LAST YEAR, THIS YEAR, THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN READY FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS. THEY DIDN’T EVEN APPREHEND THE PERSON. SO IT’S LIKE THEY WERE SLEEPING IN. ARE YOU TAKING HER HOME OR ARE YOU GOING TO STAY WITH HER FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS? WELL, WE DON’T KNOW YET BECAUSE I WANT TO I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE FACULTY. THE THE AUTHORITIES IN THE SCHOOL. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HOW AM I GOING TO FEEL COMFORTABLE? HOW ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE ME FEEL COMFORTABLE LEAVING MY DAUGHTER BEHIND? YOU NEED SOME REASSURANCE? YES. MR. VERDEJO, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR STORY WITH US THIS MORNING. CERTAINLY APPRECIATE IT. I’M GLAD TO KNOW THAT YOUR DAUGHTER IS OKAY. THEY HAVE CANCELED CLASSES HERE ON CAMPUS TODAY AND THEY HAVE COUNSELORS AVAILABLE FOR ANYONE WHO NEEDS IT. MEGAN, WE’RE GOING TO SEND IT BACK TO YOU BECAUSE WE DO HAVE LIVE TEAM COVERAGE OUT HERE OF THIS EVENT. YEAH, JEN, EMOTIONAL REACTION FROM THAT PARENT THERE. I KNOW VERY CONCERNED. AND WE CONTINUE OUR TEAM COVERAGE WITH JANINE DONALDSON, WHO IS ALSO AT MORGAN STATE THIS MORNING. AND JANINE, SCHOOL PRESIDENT DR. DAVID WILSON HAS ALREADY CANCELED CLASSES, AS WE JUST HEARD, FOR ALL STUDENTS AND FACULTY. AND WHAT’S THE LATEST THAT YOU’RE HEARING FROM THEM? WELL, RIGHT NOW, AS YOU SAID, CLASSES ARE CANCELED. IT’S NOT CLEAR HOW HOMECOMING WILL PROCEED. THIS IS A WEEK LONG EVENT AND RIGHT. THE EVENT THAT WAS TAKING PLACE LAST NIGHT, AS JIM WAS DESCRIBING, WAS COORDINATION. AND RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME IS THE FINE ARTS BUILDING THAT’S CALLED JAY MURPHY. THAT’S WHERE THE CORONATION TAKES PLACE. IF YOU LOOK BEHIND ME, THIS IS WHERE THE DORMS ARE LOCATED ON CAMPUS. AND SOME OF THE STUDENTS WERE HEADED IN THIS DIRECTION. YOU PASSED THE DORMS AND THEN YOU KEEP HEADING STRAIGHT DOWN THE PATH. AND THAT’S WHERE YOU GET TO THE STUDENT CENTER’S DR. DAVID WILSON SAYING THAT’S WHERE STUDENTS WERE HEADED WHEN THE SHOOTING STARTED. THEY WERE HEADING TO THE STUDENT CENTER AFTER COORDINATION. SOME STUDENTS SAYING THAT THEY NOT ONLY HEARD THE GUNSHOTS, BUT COULD HEAR THEM ACTUALLY HITTING SOME OF THE GLASS ON THE BUILDING. THE PRESIDENT, DR. DAVID WILSON, DESCRIBED THE CORONATION LAST NIGHT AS A, QUOTE, UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL EVENT, SAYING THAT, AGAIN, STUDENTS WERE HEADED TO THE STUDENT CENTER AFTERWARD WHEN THAT SHOOTING STARTED, HE SAYS HE MET WITH STUDENTS AND SOME PARENTS AND EVEN HELPED TO ESCORT SOME STUDENTS SAFELY BACK TO THEIR DORMS LAST NIGHT. AND THIS IS A HUGE WEEK FOR MORGAN. HOMECOMING DR. OZ THOUSAND OF STUDENTS AND ALUMNI, THEIR FAMILIES BACK TO THE CAMPUS AND FOLKS FROM THE COMMUNITY. BUT IT ALSO RAISES A LOT OF CRUCIAL MONEY FOR THE SCHOOL. AND RIGHT NOW, IT’S NOT CLEAR HOW THAT WILL PROCEED. TAKE A LISTEN TO WHAT DR. WILSON HAD TO SAY EARLY THIS MORNING. I CAN ALSO SAY THAT I HAVE CANCELED CLASSES HERE AT MORGAN FOR TOMORROW. AND WE WILL BE ASSESSING WHAT WILL HAPPEN FOR THE REST OF THE HOMECOMING WEEK AS EARLY AS TOMORROW MORNING AND WILL DULY INFORM YOU AND OTHERS OF ANY DECISION THAT WE MAKE IN THAT REGARD. YOU KNOW, IT WAS MENTIONED JUST A FEW MOMENTS AGO THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST, BEFORE THE PAST TWO YEARS, THERE WERE SHOOTINGS ON CAMPUS ON HOMECOMING DAY. THAT’S THE EVENT THAT TAKES PLACE ON SATURDAY. AND THAT PROMPTED RULE CHANGES THIS YEAR. FOR INSTANCE, GOING INTO THE FOOTBALL GAME THIS YEAR, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A CLEAR PLASTIC BAG. I KNOW SEVERAL OF THE BUILDINGS ON CAMPUS THAT ARE TYPICALLY OPEN. WE’RE GOING TO BE CLOSED. AND THIS IS A PUBLIC CAMPUS TYPICALLY STAYS OPEN ALL THE TIME. HOWEVER, THEY WERE GOING TO SHUT CAMPUS DOWN EARLY. ALL EVENTS HAD TO BE CLOSED DOWN EARLY THIS THIS YEAR. SO IT WAS ALREADY SOME RULE CHANGES TAKING PLACE. RIGHT NOW, IT’S NOT CLEAR HOW IT WILL AFFECT HOMECOMING ACTIVITIES. MOVING FORWARD FOR THIS WEEK, BUT WE DO EXPECT TO HEAR MORE FROM DR. WILSON LATER THIS MORNING ADDRESSING THAT VERY ISSUE. FOR NOW, LIVE FROM MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, I’M JANINE DONALDSON FOR WBAL-TV 11 NEWS. JANINE, THANK YOU FOR THAT INFORMATION. AND REMEMBER TO STAY WITH 11 NEWS FOR THE LATEST UPDATES BY DOWNLOADING OUR FREE WBAL-TV

BPD: Suspect at giant after 5 injured in taking pictures at Morgan State College

‘Shelter in place’ order lifted after lively shooter protocols activated

Up to date: 9:49 AM EDT Oct 4, 2023

Baltimore police are looking for a suspect after 5 younger adults had been injured Tuesday night time in a taking pictures on Morgan State College’s campus that prompted lively shooter alerts.Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley and Morgan State College Police Chief Lance Hatcher stated college cops had been on patrol round 9:25 p.m. after they heard discharging on campus.Video beneath: Press convention on Morgan State taking pictures updates Police stated 4 males and a lady, ages 18-22, suffered non-life-threatening accidents within the taking pictures. 4 of the 5 victims are Morgan State College college students.”All the metropolis of Baltimore’s coronary heart aches for the Morgan group, for the victims and their households and for our metropolis as an entire,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stated.Worley stated a number of home windows had been shattered, prompting police to activate lively shooter response protocols. Worley stated police cleared buildings within the seek for the suspect, who stays at giant. The police officers stated they may not affirm whether or not there was one or a number of shooters.Hatcher stated college police acquired a name for the taking pictures round 9:27 p.m., and that the primary public security alert was despatched to the group at 9:30 p.m. with 4 subsequent alerts that adopted.Round 11:45 p.m., metropolis police tweeted that the incident was now not an “lively shooter state of affairs.” College officers tweeted that they lifted the shelter-in-place order and resumed shuttle providers round 12:30 a.m. Worley stated SWAT officers cleared each flooring of the buildings they searched twice over earlier than officers determined to elevate the shelter-in-place order.Video beneath: ‘It was chaos’ — College students say they noticed bullets hit windowPolice continued to ask dad and mom and group members to keep away from the campus. Mother and father had been requested to go to the Safeway grocery retailer parking zone at 4401 Harford Highway, the place BPD officers had been available.College students stated they attended Tuesday night time’s coronation of Miss and Mr. Morgan State College, a well-liked annual homecoming week occasion. The photographs had been fired not lengthy after the occasion ended.Morgan State College President David Wilson stated a safety plan was in place forward of the occasions.Wilson stated courses are canceled Wednesday and that the college will maintain an emergency assembly Wednesday to reassess the remaining scheduled homecoming week actions.”It is a very tragic incident,” Wilson stated. “Morgan State College won’t be deterred. We’ll transfer ahead, we’ll proceed our momentum at Morgan, however it’s certainly a really, very unlucky state of affairs to speak about our college students being injured.”Video beneath: College students share their perspective throughout police responseThe mayor spoke to gun violence as a nationwide situation, saying motion is required instantly.”We now have youngsters in school who had been shot and this occurs time and time once more, not simply in Baltimore, however in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta, in metropolis after metropolis after metropolis after metropolis, and it has been taking place that approach for many years, and now we have to cope with this situation nationally,” Scott stated. “We now have to get critical about weapons.”Maryland Gov. Wes Moore stated his workplace is monitoring the state of affairs and is in contact with officers on campus.”We’re grateful for the heroic efforts of the primary responders who rushed to the scene and are actively working to make sure security,” Moore stated on social media.Anybody with info is requested to name police at 410-396-2444 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7LOCKUP.Video beneath: Alumnus recounts sheltering in place in positive arts heart Stick with 11 Information for updates.

BALTIMORE —

Baltimore police are looking for a suspect after 5 younger adults had been injured Tuesday night time in a taking pictures on Morgan State College’s campus that prompted lively shooter alerts.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley and Morgan State College Police Chief Lance Hatcher stated college cops had been on patrol round 9:25 p.m. after they heard discharging on campus.

Video beneath: Press convention on Morgan State taking pictures updates

Police stated 4 males and a lady, ages 18-22, suffered non-life-threatening accidents within the taking pictures. 4 of the 5 victims are Morgan State College college students.

“All the metropolis of Baltimore’s coronary heart aches for the Morgan group, for the victims and their households and for our metropolis as an entire,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stated.

Worley stated a number of home windows had been shattered, prompting police to activate lively shooter response protocols. Worley stated police cleared buildings within the seek for the suspect, who stays at giant. The police officers stated they may not affirm whether or not there was one or a number of shooters.

Hatcher stated college police acquired a name for the taking pictures round 9:27 p.m., and that the primary public security alert was despatched to the group at 9:30 p.m. with 4 subsequent alerts that adopted.

Round 11:45 p.m., city police tweeted that the incident was now not an “lively shooter state of affairs.” University officials tweeted that they lifted the shelter-in-place order and resumed shuttle providers round 12:30 a.m. Worley stated SWAT officers cleared each flooring of the buildings they searched twice over earlier than officers determined to elevate the shelter-in-place order.

Video beneath: ‘It was chaos’ — College students say they noticed bullets hit window

Police continued to ask dad and mom and group members to keep away from the campus. Mother and father had been requested to go to the Safeway grocery retailer parking zone at 4401 Harford Highway, the place BPD officers had been available.

College students stated they attended Tuesday night time’s coronation of Miss and Mr. Morgan State College, a well-liked annual homecoming week occasion. The photographs had been fired not lengthy after the occasion ended.

Morgan State College President David Wilson stated a safety plan was in place forward of the occasions.

Wilson stated courses are canceled Wednesday and that the college will maintain an emergency assembly Wednesday to reassess the remaining scheduled homecoming week actions.

“It is a very tragic incident,” Wilson stated. “Morgan State College won’t be deterred. We’ll transfer ahead, we’ll proceed our momentum at Morgan, however it’s certainly a really, very unlucky state of affairs to speak about our college students being injured.”

Video beneath: College students share their perspective throughout police response

The mayor spoke to gun violence as a nationwide situation, saying motion is required instantly.

“We now have youngsters in school who had been shot and this occurs time and time once more, not simply in Baltimore, however in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta, in metropolis after metropolis after metropolis after metropolis, and it has been taking place that approach for many years, and now we have to cope with this situation nationally,” Scott stated. “We now have to get critical about weapons.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore stated his workplace is monitoring the state of affairs and is in contact with officers on campus.

“We’re grateful for the heroic efforts of the primary responders who rushed to the scene and are actively working to make sure security,” Moore stated on social media.

Anybody with info is requested to name police at 410-396-2444 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 866-7LOCKUP.

Video beneath: Alumnus recounts sheltering in place in positive arts heart

Stick with 11 Information for updates.