1 student dead and another injured in a shooting at Kentucky State University in Frankfort
By Emma Tucker, CNN
(CNN) — One student is dead and another remains in critical condition after a shooting at Kentucky State University upended students’ final exams of the semester before they go on winter break, police said.
The suspect, who is not a student, is in custody, police and university officials said. The student in critical condition remains stable, university spokesperson Michael DeCourcy told CNN. It was not a targeted attack, DeCourcy said.
Campus police officers responded to the shooting immediately and arrested the suspect moments after the first gunfire, he said.
Law enforcement agencies have secured the scene but the school remains on lockdown as police investigate what the governor has called an isolated attack.
None of the campus police officers fired their weapons “to our knowledge,” DeCourcy said, adding: “This is beyond terrible.”
Kentucky State University, a historically Black university that was chartered in 1886, has more than 2,200 students and 450 faculty and staff members, according its website. Now, it has now become the site of the 73rd shooting on school grounds this year, most of which took place on college campuses, according to CNN’s analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety.
The shooting unfolded around 3:35 p.m. outside Whitney M. Young Jr. residence hall, a dorm on campus, the university said, adding it would not identify the victims at this time out of respect for them and their families.
The university urged anyone in need of counseling and support to seek services available to students, faculty and staff impacted by the tragedy.
“We are in close contact with the families and are providing every available support to them,” the statement said.
There is no ongoing threat to the community, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said.
“Thank you to our brave law enforcement who acted quickly to protect our people,” he continued.
Tuesday’s incident comes after two other historically Black universities were targeted in separate shootings during homecoming weekends in October.
Five people were injured in a shooting near the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC, police said, but none of the victims were students.
Just one day later, at least one person was killed and six others were injured during homecoming weekend at Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University, police said.
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CNN’s Cindy Von Quednow, Taso Stefanidis, Alex Leeds Matthews, Amy O’Kruk and Annette Choi contributed to this report.