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Police charge teen, seek second suspect in Morgan State shooting

2023-10-14 00:00:00.0 华盛顿邮报-华盛顿特区原网页

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Baltimore police have charged a 17-year-old male with multiple counts of attempted murder and are seeking a second suspect in the shooting at Morgan State University last week that injured five and prompted officials to postpone or cancel homecoming festivities, officials announced Friday.

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The teen charged was not identified, but Baltimore police said he was arrested in the District on Thursday. Police said they are also seeking Jovan Williams, 18, of D.C. in the shooting, which rattled the campus and led officials to cancel classes at Morgan State, Maryland’s largest historically Black university. Williams is considered armed and dangerous and is believed to have opened fire during the incident, police said. Police have issued attempted murder warrants for him.

D.C. police said they are seeking Williams as part of a major federal gang case. Baltimore police said they were not seeking additional suspects.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates issued a pointed statement after the arrests, at a time when the nation’s capital is struggling with surging violence.

“In the past, D.C. would worry about Baltimore crime somehow making its way down there, but now it appears D.C. crime has actually come to Baltimore,” he said.

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Investigators were able to determine the identities of the suspects via surveillance video that was uncovered during the investigation, Baltimore police said. Police released video and images of two males last week and asked for the public’s help to identify them. Morgan State President David K. Wilson wrote in a letter to the campus that neither suspect is a Morgan State student nor has any connection to the school.

“We will not rest until Williams is in custody,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said in a statement Friday. “While this arrest cannot undo the damage and trauma caused that day, it is my hope that it can bring some peace and justice to the victims, the Morgan community and our city.”

Baltimore police said the Oct. 3 shooting probably occurred after a dispute between groups. A Baltimore police spokeswoman on Friday declined to detail the nature of the dispute, since a criminal case is now pending against one of the alleged shooters.

Gunfire erupted around 9:25 p.m. near Thurgood Marshall Hall, a Morgan State dorm, on the first night of homecoming. The shooting occurred outside as students left the Mister & Miss Morgan State University coronation at the performing arts center across the street from the dorm. Officials locked down the campus.

Police said the five injured people were part of a group that was enjoying the evening and were not the intended targets of the shooting. The shooting injured four students between the ages of 18 and 22 and a fifth person, who police identified as a visitor from Baltimore County. Police said Friday that all five had been released from the hospital.

Police said the shooters were targeting a person who was not injured in the shooting.

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Police initially feared that an attack-style mass shooting was underway. They cordoned off parts of the campus, called in a SWAT team and searched buildings room by room. A student video posted online showed heavily armed officers shining lights in one dorm room and searching it as a student raised his hands.

The shooting shattered a window in Thurgood Marshall Hall and left the campus empty on what was supposed to be one of its most festive weeks of the year. This is the third straight year that gunfire has marred homecoming activities at the university, which has more than 9,000 students.

A D.C. police spokesman said Williams also is one of four men being sought in connection with a federal criminal case filed this summer against the Kennedy Street Crew, a gang linked to violence and money laundering in Northwest Washington’s Brightwood Park neighborhood.

Police and the FBI arrested a dozen suspects in June and said they were looking for four more charged in a sweeping conspiracy case linking them to violence, running a fictitious business, shuttling suitcases full of drugs between D.C. and Southern California, and laundering money through a casino.

The 17-year-old made an initial appearance on the Morgan State charges before a D.C. Superior Court judge Friday. With his wrists and ankles in manacles, the teen stood next to his court-appointed attorney, Corinne Schultz, as a courtroom clerk said the teen was facing a count of attempted first-degree murder. The teen, through his attorney, said he would waive any further hearings in the District and instead allow Maryland officials to extradite him to face charges in Baltimore. He will be housed at the District’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, the judge overseeing the hearing informed deputy marshals.

The Post generally does not name juveniles charged with crimes, unless they are charged as adults. Schultz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Less than a week after the Morgan State shooting, gunfire broke out Saturday during homecoming activities at Bowie State, an HBCU in Prince George’s County, injuring two 19-year-old men and prompting a campus lockdown. Officials there later canceled classes as well. Authorities said they do not believe the Bowie State and Morgan State shootings were connected.

Morgan State officials announced this week that they were upgrading security, including installing a wall that would surround 90 percent of campus. Officials are also adding metal detectors, weapon detection systems, a guard booth outside Thurgood Marshall Hall and more security guards at other dorms.

“The Morgan community can take solace today in knowing that an arrest has been made and we are one step closer to bringing all of the alleged culprits responsible for the incident that occurred on our campus to justice,” Wilson said in his letter to the campus Friday.