Bethune Cookman University Shooting: 1 of 3 Victims Injured by Gunshots Not Cooperating With Daytona Beach, Florida Police
A shooting at Bethune Cookman University in Florida has sent the police searching for the assailant and left three people injured.
Although the school resumed classes on Tuesday, the shooting has shaken the community.
Late Monday afternoon, a shooting happened outside one of the buildings of Bethune Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, reports WKMG. The shooter, who remains at large, injured three students, but their injuries were not serious.
According to the Daytona Beach Police Department, witnesses heard six or seven gunshots, which struck the three students. A bullet grazed a student's shoulder and the student, identified as Keshaun Reeves, was taken to Halifax hospital. Bullets grazed the other two students by their ear and knee. The former, Juanye Jones, refused treatment, and the latter, Dante Ridford, is not cooperating with police.
Although two people were initially taken into police custody, they were later released, as they were only witnesses.
Another witness, Roderick Dantzler, said he heard an argument before the gunshots.
"It's scary because you probably had a whole bunch of people out here, and if security hadn't been right on scene, who knows what would've happened?" Daytona Beach police spokesperson Jimmie Flynt said.
The school released a statement briefing the campus community on the events and thanking campus security.
"Our public safety officers responded swiftly to secure the campus and we are grateful that the injuries sustained by our students were non-life threatening. As a community we will gather to remind our students of the importance of upholding the core values on which this university was built," Bethune-Cookman University President Edison Jackson said.
Still, Dantzler said that the situation is "unacceptable" for a college.
"This is a lifestyle to education. Shouldn't be like this," Dantzler told WFTV. "This is not street life. Not a jailhouse. This is a place for you to learn."
Meanwhile, Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood expressed gratitude.
"This could have been a horrible tragedy. ... The good Lord was smiling down on campus tonight," he said.
The shooter opened fire outside the music building and fled in a silver car. Police are not ruling out the possibility he or she could be a student.
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