A recent shooting on New Orleans-based HBCU Xavier University’s campus left one woman dead and two others injured.
According to Nola, the shooting occurred after Morris Jeff Community School’s graduation ceremony that took place at Xavier, New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) said.
At a press conference, NOPD Deputy Superintendent Christopher Goodly told reporters that two women began fighting in the parking lot of XULA’s convocation center. At the same time, graduates and their relatives exited the event. As the fight escalated, one of them pulled a weapon out and opened fire.
At least three individuals were detained at the scene, but it has been unclear what their involvement in the incident was.
Two male victims were hospitalized with non-threatening injuries; one was shot in the leg and the other in the shoulder. The woman, who a witness identified as the grandmother of a Morris Jeff graduate, didn’t make it as she reportedly passed away.
During a police investigation of the shooting, investigators saw a handgun lying in the parking lot and an SUV with its window broken into pieces.
“This is supposed to be a joyous occasion, and it is very sad for us to have to go through something like this,” a second witness told Nola. “This is horrible. It’s too much.”
Another witness, who reportedly watched his niece graduate, said he heard several gunshots approximately 10 minutes away from the ceremony. He added that he saw people running and ducking for cover.
The head of school at Morris Jeff, Patricia Perkins, expressed to reporters that the institution had a “strong school community” and that they would “heal” from the tragic events that went down at XULA’s campus.
“Morris Jeff is a strong school community, and we will unite to help each other heal. Every day, we teach our children to solve their differences with their words and to be compassionate toward each other,” Perkins wrote in a statement. “Our graduates will make a difference in this world because they learn to see each other as equal human beings. This resolve is only stronger after today’s violence.”
Nola Public Schools superintendent, Dr. Henderson Lewis Jr., said she was “outraged” and “saddened” by the shooting.
“I am outraged and saddened by the callousness shown today outside Xavier University,” Lewis said. “The graduating seniors of Morris Jeff were there to share in their collective achievements and bask in the brightness of their futures — only to have their optimism ripped apart by gun violence. This has got to stop. We must come together as a community, as a country, and address the damage caused by access to guns and to get to the root of the anger and despair that compels individuals to even think of harming others.”
So far, a suspect and motive have been under investigation, but no arrests have been made.
