Bowie, Maryland (Sunday, October 8, 2023) – Classes are canceled Monday at Bowie State University (BSU) after the second shooting on an HBCU campus in less than a week during homecoming festivities. Two people were shot Saturday around 11:30 p.m. outside the Center for Business and Graduate Studies on Henry Circle. Maryland State Police say the shooting victims were 19-year-old men and are not students of the school.
State police were on campus helping University police during the homecoming weekend. The Bowie shooting comes just days after a mass shooting on the campus of Morgan State University during the kick-off of its homecoming activities. The remainder of Morgan’s homecoming was subsequently canceled following the shooting Tuesday night of 4 students and one other person. Bowie State offered free homecoming game tickets to Morgan students in light of the shooting on that Baltimore campus.
“Our campus community is very much a peaceful community. And so this is not normal for Bowie State University,” said BSU President Aminta Breaux. The school was placed on lockdown for three hours following the shooting. “We’re going to take this one day at a time.”
At a news conference Sunday, police said they do not think the Morgan and Bowie shootings are connected. “We believe there are no further threats to the campus or public at this point. We also believe the shooting was an isolated incident,” said Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Roland Butler, Jr. The victims were found in front of the Center for Business and Graduate Studies. Their identities have not been released.
Police are urging anyone with information or video of the shooting to call the state police tip line at 301-860-4688.
The school shooting came just hours after the Bowie homecoming game against Virginia State. The Bowie Bulldogs fell to the Virginia Trojans 44-16.
Both victims are expected of the BSU shooting are expected to survive their injuries. Police have not said what led up to the shooting or released any information about suspects. “Preliminarily we believe that there was more than one shooter,” added Butler.
