Student Shot Near FAMU Dining Area

By Sidney Wright IV, Ebonie Ledbetter and Christina Hordge
Black College Wire

A student was shot in the Student Services Center at Florida A&M University after a lunchtime fight broke out in the downstairs part of the building.

According to Jarvis Wiggins, an employee at the FAMU Copy Center, the Feb. 11 fighting began in the restrooms and continued outside the Copy Center.

Wiggins said he witnessed seven or eight men beating a man in front of the entrance of the downstairs food court. During the course of the fight, he said, someone was slammed into a wall, almost ripping two water fountains from it.

Wiggins recalled hearing a loud pop, and seeing students run outside in opposite directions.

Those pops, witnesses said, were gunshots.

Immediately after the shooting, police taped off the area around the broken water fountains and a police officer was seen picking through the trash with his baton.

Lt. Louis Wichers, who is assigned to the case, said FAMU police received a call at 1:29 p.m. about a possible disturbance and a possible shot fired.

When they arrived, they found one victim with a gunshot wound to his left foot.

An ambulance was 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 want to be identified.

Police are working to figure out who was involved.

"We're investigating the disturbance and speaking to students and gathering information together to solve the case," said FAMU Police Chief Calvin Ross.

Wichers said police were increasing their patrol of the area, a heavy traffic zone.

Students entering the campus dining hall, known as the "caff," after the shooting saw police downstairs and yellow crime-scene tape near the bathrooms.

Students had mixed emotions about what happened.

"God knows I love FAMU, but it looks bad because people already think we're ghetto hood rats and for this to happen makes it true," said Jacquelyn Massey, a freshman biology/pre-med student from Pompano Beach, Fla.

Akilah Gibbs, 19, a freshman business administration student, said she saw students reenacting the events while she was walking to the caff, and she learned what happened when she entered.

"I think [the shooting] is ridiculous because we're adults and all this fighting and bickering is a waste of time," Gibbs said.

In light of the incident, some said they were beginning to think about their safety at the university.

"I'll be more careful 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 much anymore.

"This is upsetting because I'm here all the time," said the 24-year-old from Los Angeles.

"I'm glad I wasn't here when it happened. I'm bringing my lunch to campus now."

Sidney Wright IV, Ebonie Ledbetter and Christina Hordge are students at Florida A&M University who write for The Famuan.

Posted Feb. 15, 2005