Police investigating shooting of 1 at UALR
Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2008
A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student was shot on campus Wednesday afternoon in front of 15 to 20 witnesses, including the university tennis team that was practicing yards away, police said.
Chancellor Joel E. Anderson canceled classes Wednesday night after warning thousands on campus of the shooting over a new emergency notification system. Officials said the suspects fled the campus and students and employees were not in danger.
The student was taken to St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock. His identity and injuries were not released.
The victim was shot at close range, campus Police Chief Brad King said, and staggered about 50 yards before collapsing in front of his car.
The shooting happened at 2: 10 p.m. on a sidewalk next to the tennis courts off University Drive, King said. Tennis players still roamed the courts, collecting rackets and balls about an hour after the shooting, as investigators interviewed players.
Jon Atwood, a UALR senior, said he saw the victim, but didn’t realize he had been shot.
“I saw him face down,” Atwood. “His feet were toward me and his head was towards the driver’s side of the car. He was moaning and groaning and stuff like that.
“ He just seemed like he was drunk or passed out or something,” Atwood said. “That’s all I got out of it, so I just kept walking, as did other people.” King didn’t know whether the attack was a drive-by shooting or if multiple weapons were involved. He also didn’t know whether the victim knew the men who attacked him.
King said at least two shots were fired from a handgun.
Two black men, one with “afro style hair,” fled the scene after the attack heading west on University Drive toward University Avenue, campus officials said.
The escape vehicle was either a gold or cream Chevrolet Malibu or Japanese car such as a Nissan with damage on its right side, university spokesman Joan Duffy said, both of which had been described as possible getaway cars in a series of campuswide e-mail alerts.
Wednesday’s shooting was the first King could recall on the campus since he joined the police department in 2000.
The campus was never locked down Wednesday because police determined within a few minutes that the suspects left campus, King said.
Campus police are leading the investigation. The Little Rock Police Department is assisting and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has offered help. Information for this article was contributed by Cynthia Howell, Charlotte Tubbs and Charlie Frago of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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