Wilson criticizes trash, shooting at Homecoming

A shooting for a second straight year mars the day’s events

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Provided by Morgan State University

Cayla Cade and Jah'I Selassie

Vowing not to accept situations that have marked Homecoming the past two years, Morgan State University President David Wilson criticized conditions that led to scattered garbage and a shooting Saturday.

In an email to the Morgan community Sunday, Wilson called areas of the campus where trash was left as “deplorable,” while describing a shooting that took place near the Student Center as “unfortunate and unwelcomed.”

“These things that occurred on our campus do not reflect the homecoming experience we wish to have affiliated with Morgan State University,” Wilson wrote.

City and campus police reported a 20-year-old man was shot in an incident outside the Student Center after 10 p.m. Saturday. The shooting took place after the 9 p.m. deadline campus officials set for attendees to leave campus.

Wilson wrote that the shooting victim is not a Morgan student. The victim was taken to a local hospital where city police posted on Facebook Saturday that he was listed in stable condition.

As of Sunday, police have neither announced an arrest or the name of a suspect.

Wilson wrote he returned to campus when he received word of the shooting in which a 20-year-old man was injured outside the Student Center after 10 p.m. Saturday.

When he arrived, Wilson said he saw “apparent acts of disrespect to our culture, our history and our traditions” by way of garbage left outside of receptacles

“We will NOT stand for anyone trashing our precious treasure… what I’ve seen in the last two years [past homecomings] is not what this university will accept,” he wrote.

Saturday’s incident marks the second straight year that Homecoming has been marked by a shooting. In addition, a number of fights took place on campus during the day’s events. A video of a brawl that erupted in front of the Chick-fil-A in the Student Center was posted on Twitter.

Wilson wrote he will share his thinking on the future Homecomings.