By Dante Miller, Yard Editor
Twenty-five-year-old, Vic Kimeko James, was found with a gun shot wound in a car in front of Pride Hall on April 20 around 11:30 pm to midnight.
According to Captain Nathanial Davis, there were two women involved – one was a student and the other was not – and they were later assaulted by a man dressed in all black who had a gun. After a struggle between the women and the individual with the gun, shots were fired and the man fled the scene. One of the women went to the Pride Hall security and told the security officer that she had been assaulted. North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University officer and security officers scanned the campus and later found James in a vehicle with a serious gunshot wound. He was taken to Moses Cone Hospital where he was pronounced dead. This was one of three homicides in Greensboro occurring that night. It is unclear if they were all connected.
Police have stated that more information will be released after the investigation is complete.
Pride Hall resident Zackery Bryant was there at the night of the shooting. “I heard a couple of shots, six maybe. After that I didn’t hear anything else and thought it was from another neighborhood.” Bryant continued by saying “I went downstairs afterwards and saw the police and ambulance.”
Bryant stated that he received an Aggie Alert thirty minutes to an hour after the incident occurred. “It was not immediate, I live in Pride and didn’t know the shooting was at Pride until I checked Twitter. Twitter got the news before the Aggie Alert came out.”
The day after the shooting, students gathered at a safety forum in Harrison Auditorium to express their concern regarding security on campus as well as the Aggie Alert Systems. N.C. A&T Police Chief Charles Wilson commented, “It is a concern of the police department to give information to students as fast as possible. We must follow certain protocols before we release information. In doing that for you [the students] we have to give out accurate information and this will cause it [Aggie Alert] to take a little bit longer to be released.” Currently NC A&T police staff are trying to shorten this time gap while following protocols.
“I use to feel comfortable siting in my car in pride” said Pride hall resident Jada Copper, “But now I don’t even feel comfortable being in the parking lot at all. I hurry in and out of my car.”
Students have expressed that they understand how the community needs to receive accurate information; however, a warning from Aggie Alert stating there has been a shooting on campus followed with updates would have sufficed. Chief Wilson agrees that there should be a shorter time giving information and understands their concerns “We are trying to do better with follow up information,” said Chief Wilson, “I am pressing on my staff to do better by giving follow up information.”
In the forum, students suggested for better lighting around campus, more cameras, and better security for dormitories.
