Student Gives First-Person Account of Shooting on Morehouse Campus
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- Category: Atlanta
- Published on Saturday, 02 February 2013 22:42
- Written by The Atlanta Daily World
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Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College announced that they are canceling the Battle on the Hardwood basketball game between the two schools.
"Due to an incident involving students near campus, the Clark Atlanta versus Morehouse game scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 2, has been cancelled and it will be postponed to a date that will be announced later," read a statement from Clark Atlanta's athletic department.
The game was canceled after a shooting on Morehouse's campus involving a Clark Atlanta student and reportedly happened because of a pickup basketball game. Police have arrested a Clark Atlanta student in connection with the shooting.
James Pressley, a senior at Morehouse described the aftermath of the shooting.
"I was literally looking at my window as the shooting occurred," Pressley told the Daily World in an email. "I live a building behind the student recreation center where the shooting took place. Three shots rang out and echoed around the vicinity. Random shooting occurs in the area all the time, but these shots were much closer than usual. I looked harder to see if anything was up and sure enough you saw an array of students running sporadically all over the place. I was almost certain somebody had been shot after seeing people slowly come back to the scene. Within minutes campus police and Atlanta Police rushed to the scene and blocked everything off. Helicopters soon followed."
A statement from Morehouse officials Saturday said 21-year-old Amir Obafemi had been jailed in Fulton County on charges of felony aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon.
The AJC reports that the injured student was identified as Cornileus Savage. He remained hospitalized in stable condition Saturday after being shot in the forearm.
Morehouse Police Chief Vernon Worthy said four shots were fired Friday inside a campus gym and several witnesses took cell phone pictures that police have as evidence.
"We think it's totally irresponsible to have a weapon on campus, let alone discharge it," Worthy said on Friday night, "that's why we're pursuing the perps right now."
A "stop the violence" rally was planned instead of the basketball game.
Editor's note: James Pressley is an intern for the Atlanta Daily World
