(Morgan State/Facebook)
Three Morgan State University football players were stabbed during a dispute outside a residence hall Tuesday afternoon, the Baltimore Sun reports.
NE District Detectives are investigating a stabbing that occurred earlier today at Morgan State University. MSU Police are assisting us.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. A Dispute Led to the Stabbing
Police say it is a triple stabbing. Students say it grew out of dispute between groups. #MSU #Morgan http://t.co/ayVbWCiE8C
Baltimore police said officers responded to a report of a stabbing and found three victims. The victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and two of the three were taken to a hospital for treatment, police said.
One of the victims was stabbed in the chest and suffered serious injuries. All three were members of the Morgan State football team, but their names haven’t been released, the Sun reports. One of the other players was stabbed in the arm and the other in the back.
“Investigators believe the stabbing occurred during an altercation between two groups on the college campus,” police said on Twitter. “The investigation continues.”
2. At Least 1 Person Was Taken Into Custody at the Scene
Scene of stabbing on campus of Morgan State Univ. City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts here http://t.co/CUzQdONYKE
University spokesman Clint Coleman told the Sun, “Somebody pulled out a knife and just began swinging it widely.” Coleman said one student was taken into custody and several others were detained for questioning, according to the Sun.
University President David Wilson said in a statement:
The Baltimore City Police immediately apprehended at least one suspect who is in police custody, and they have taken several potential witnesses into custody as well. The police are confident that there is no remaining threat to the University. No text alerts went out because the general public was not in imminent danger because this was a fight between known parties and not a random act of violence.
3. There was Also a Stabbing Last Week
According to the Sun, a student was stabbed Friday during a fight with his roommate.
And on Saturday a party sponsored by Greek organizations that drew 1,200 people had to be broken up by police after fights broke out, according to the newspaper’s report. The party was the first after a moratorium was put into place last year, partly because of previous violence.
The university said Tuesday’s fight may have spilled over from the party.
Wilson said in his statement:
I want to assure the University community that we here at Morgan take the safety of the entire University quite seriously, and as such, the behaviors that we have seen from a few of our students over the past several days will simply not be tolerated. The University will apply severe disciplinary action to all students who engage in such egregious, horrendous and utterly unacceptable behaviors like the ones we’ve seen over the last few days. This is not Morgan! While we understand that occasional conflicts may arise between individuals within a larger community, those conflicts are to be dealt with in an appropriate manner.
About 6,500 undergraduate students attend the university, which has a 143-acre campus in northeast Baltimore.
4. A Football Player Was Shot in the Same Area in 2012
Incident took place behind Blount Tower. #MSU #Morgan http://t.co/iRBvPFdQoF
Tyrell Okoro was shot in December 2012 in the same courtyard where Tuesday’s stabbings occurred, the Baltimore Sun reports. According to the Sun article from 2012, Okoro, a sophomore offensive lineman from New York at the time, survived.
Keith Robertson, 20, a Baltimore resident who wasn’t a student, was charged in connection with the shooting, which happened on the last day of classes for the semester. He was pleaded guilty to attempted murder in 2013.
5. The University Held a Meeting to Discuss the Recent Violence
Wilson hosted a campus discussion Tuesday night. He said:
I will start a campus-wide conversation around the values we hold high here at Morgan—respect, civility, integrity, leadership, academic excellence, and pride, among others. It is my intention to go to every residential hall, along with Dr. Banks, within the coming days to speak with students directly about what we value at Morgan. Let me also point out that there are resources on campus that are available to those students who may have witnessed this unfortunate incident. They may contact the University Counseling Center at: 443-885-3130.
