A student wasshot in the Student Services Center at Florida A&M University after alunchtime fight broke out in the downstairs part of the building.
According toJarvis Wiggins, an employee at the FAMU Copy Center, the Feb. 11 fighting beganin the restrooms and continued outside the Copy Center.
Wiggins saidhe witnessed seven or eight men beating a man in front of the entrance of thedownstairs food court. During the course of the fight, he said, someone wasslammed into a wall, almost ripping two water fountains from it.
Wigginsrecalled hearing a loud pop, and seeing students run outside in oppositedirections.
Those pops,witnesses said, were gunshots.
Immediatelyafter the shooting, police taped off the area around the broken water fountainsand a police officer was seen picking through the trash with his baton.
Lt. LouisWichers, who is assigned to the case, said FAMU police received a call at 1:29p.m. about a possible disturbance and a possible shot fired.
When theyarrived, they found one victim with a gunshot wound to his left foot.
An ambulancewas called for the student, who was waiting inside the parking garage.
The victim,who was released the same day from Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, did not wantto be identified.
Police areworking to figure out who was involved.
“We’reinvestigating the disturbance and speaking to students and gatheringinformation together to solve the case,” said FAMU Police Chief Calvin Ross.
Wichers saidpolice were increasing their patrol of the area, a heavy traffic zone.
Studentsentering the campus dining hall, known as the “caff,” after the shooting sawpolice downstairs and yellow crime-scene tape near the bathrooms.
Students hadmixed emotions about what happened.
“God knows Ilove FAMU, but it looks bad because people already think we’re ghetto hood ratsand for this to happen makes it true,” said Jacquelyn Massey, a freshmanbiology/pre-med student from Pompano Beach, Fla.
Akilah Gibbs,19, a freshman business administration student, said she saw studentsreenacting the events while she was walking to the caff, and she learned whathappened when she entered.
“I think [theshooting] is ridiculous because we’re adults and all this fighting andbickering is a waste of time,” Gibbs said.
In light ofthe incident, some said they were beginning to think about their safety at theuniversity.
“I’ll be morecareful in my surroundings, but the fight will not affect how much I come here,because [the caff] is my only way to eat,” Gibbs said.
Annie Spikes,a first-year graduate student, said she won’t be dining in the caff as muchanymore.
“This isupsetting because I’m here all the time,” said the 24-year-old from LosAngeles.
“I’m glad Iwasn’t here when it happened. I’m bringing my lunch to campus now.”
SidneyWright IV, Ebonie Ledbetter and Christina Hordge are students at FloridaA&M University who write for The Famuan.
