Shooting at Delta State University

by Erin Crosby

contributing writer

At approximately 10:54 a.m. on September 14, Delta State University experienced an attack that was both frightening and foreign to the small university community of just 4,000.  A shooter, who is believed to be a professor at the school by the name of Shannon Lamb, shot and killed a history instructor, Ethan Schmidt. Though no official reasoning for the incident has been released it is rumored that the victim may have stood in the way of him getting his tenure. This is according to Jeff Amy and Kevin McGill who contribute to Yahoo news.

The incident lasted until around 10 p.m when the shooter was found dead. Officials say that he killed himself, after a 12-hour ordeal that caused panic among students and faculty.

Finally, at 4 p.m., Cleveland Police Chief Charles “Buster” Bingham made an official statement to news stations such as wreg saying that he did not believe that the shooter was still on campus, and many students were finally able to leave their places of hiding. No students were seriously injured, but many are still healing from the traumatic experience.

Sophomore at Delta State University Meagan Johnson, who I spoke with the night of the incident, tried to put the emotions of the day into words, saying, “I have no idea why anybody would do this to our campus. It drained everyone and me. It has been an insane day, and I hope tomorrow will be better. I’m really appreciative of how this was handled, though, because it didn’t go on longer than a day.”

The community is a tight-knit and involved one, similar to that of Millsaps College, even though the community itself is larger.  As the healing process beings, we can only hope that the students regain their feelings of safety on their campus.