STARKVILLE, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
By Allie Ware - email | bio
Folks at Mississippi State University are stunned and are sharing their stories. A student has died after he was shot in one of the dormitories late Saturday night. One person has reportedly been arrested, but no official details have yet been released.
It's unclear what the motive was, but we do know three men in a late model blue Ford Crown Victoria were being sought in connection with what happened. University officials say they don't believe the three were students.
Shortly before 10:00 Saturday night, the Mississippi State University Police Department responded to a 911 call saying a resident of Evans Hall had been severely injured.
"I was in the lobby playing ping pong, and some guy ran in and told everyone to call 911 because someone had been shot," said Evans Hall resident Tyrell Miller. "We didn't hear any gunshots. After he ran out of the lobby, [my friends and I] ran down to where the guy was and called the police."
Officers arrived at Evans Hall to find John Sanderson, 21, of Madison had been shot. He was taken to OCH Regional Medical Center where he died more than an hour later.
From there, the investigation began, and students were put on alert.
"We immediately moved to essentially lock down the residents halls screening those that were coming and going there," said Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Bill Kibler. "We beefed up patrols on our campus immediately."
Sunday morning, MSU officials went before reporters to share more information about what had happened, which turned out to be an unwelcome first for the university.
"This is the first time in our school's history that such a tragic incident has occurred involving a student being shot on our campus," said university president Mark Keenum.
The shooting death brought up questions about the safety of the campus, but with several security measures in place MSU officials and students say no one should be afraid.
"Our campus is known as a safe place," Dr. Keenum said. "I want to assure our students, parents and faculty that it continues to be safe."
"We think, actually, our redundant safety systems we have in our residence halls are very good," said Dr. Kibler. "We felt like in response to this incident they worked very well."
Those security measures include a keycard system. A student's keycard must be used to gain access at three points; the building itself, a wing of the building and a dorm room.
Security cameras are also in place, and it's a safe bet law enforcement has looked at what those cameras recorded in Evans hall around the time of the shooting.
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