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Delaware State University

Del. campus stands by security before shootings

Matthew Albright
The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
Students make their way across campus at Delaware State University Monday.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Delaware State University officials insisted their school is safe and that adequate security measures were in place Saturday night for an event that ended with three people getting shot.

School officials estimate 3,000 people took part in the Greek Cookout, an outdoor fraternity and sorority party located on the lawn behind the recreation center.

On Monday morning, DSU officials reviewed Saturday's chain of events. In addition to the shooting at the Cookout, which occurred around 8 p.m., shots also were reported to have been fired at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday in the area of the University Courtyard Apartments. No injuries were reported in that incident.

"There are going to be earnest discussions about safety and what we can do," DSU spokesman Carlos Holmes said. "Safety is paramount."

There were disturbances at last year's Cookout, though nothing as serious as a shooting. Holmes maintained that proper precautions were taken this year.

"This was not in the absence of security. It was not in an absence of planning," Holmes said. "We were pleased with how the whole event was going until that very last hour."

Holmes said ample DSU police officers were on the scene and that local law enforcement was made aware that crowds would be on campus, which is why Delaware State Police and Dover Police Department officers were able to assist as quickly as they did. Holmes said the school was well-prepared to deal with the crowds.

"Delaware State University is a safe campus. We have a tremendous police department, a fully certified police department with fully certified officers," Holmes said. "Just like other municipalities have police patrolling the city, incidents still happen. All it takes is one person to do one thing."

Campus police have not reported any arrests in connection with the shootings and have not confirmed reports that the shooter was not a DSU student.

The school continued to withhold the identities of the victims, other than to say none were DSU students. All three remained hospitalized.

DSU has funneled all comments from both its administration and police through Holmes. President Harry L. Williams, through Holmes, declined an interview Monday.

Daron Smith, 21, a junior and Iota Phi Theta fraternity member at Delaware State University, was at the Greek Cookout Saturday night three people were shot on campus.

Some students and media reports have confused the Cookout, which was held in the late afternoon and evening, with Field Day, an event held earlier in the day.

Daron Smith, 21, a Delaware State University junior from Newark, said he is the first member of his family to go to college. On Saturday, he brought a cousin down from Philadelphia to the Cookout in hopes of showing him what a great experience college can be.

That's why he was so upset by the shooting.

"We're trying to bring people here and show them what DSU is all about, and then somebody comes here and does something like that," Smith said. "It's just so disappointing."

Like many DSU students, Smith blamed the violence on "outsiders" who came onto DSU's campus.

On Monday morning, Smith sat on a picnic bench in the space dedicated to Iota Phi Theta, of which he is a member, in the lawn where sororities have "plots" that sport their colors and insignias. DSU fraternities and sororities don't have houses, but the plots provide a place where they can gather and hang out between classes.

Throughout Saturday afternoon, Smith said that lawn was the epicenter of the party, full of students and their friends and delicious-smelling barbecue smoke.

"It was going really well," Smith said. "We were all having a great time."

The event was supposed to be over around 9 p.m. Smith said he believes the gunshots came from behind the DJ booth, just off of the Greek lawn.

Some members of the Dover community worry that incidents like this unfairly give the school a bad name.

Students make their way across campus at Delaware State University Monday.

"You hear about these outsiders, and it's very troubling," said C.V. Holmes, pastor at New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Dover, which is just down the road from DSU and counts school families and employees among its congregation. "I think it's possible that the school gets a bad reputation that it doesn't deserve."

Pastor Holmes said he thinks the school ought to hand out passes for events like these, similar to the way graduation ceremonies are handled.

Holmes, the DSU spokesman, said the university will consider security changes, but would not likely want to stop the events like the Cookout from happening.

"We want our students to be proud of their university. We want our students to feel like they can call up a friend at UMES, or Howard, or Morgan State or UD and say, 'Hey come to our campus,'" he said. "While we are in discussions on how to improve safety, I don't think we're going to just shut the door."

Smith, the DSU student, hopes the Cookout continues.

"It's just such a great way for us to sort of have some fun and take our minds off things," Smith said. "It's a really positive thing, and I think it's such a shame that somebody did something like this and turned it into something negative."

Contributing: Jennifer Rini, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

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