On Monday night of Sept. 17, a North Carolina Central student was shot and killed by an on duty security guard at Campus Crossing Apartments.

The student who was shot and killed was a senior education major by the name of Deandre Ballard.

The cause of shooting is said to be Ballard’s alleged breaking into cars. He was approached by the guard. The guard proceeded to say that Ballard entered the passenger side of the vehicle and started to fight with him.

He then exited the car and went to the drivers side reaching for the security guard’s gun, according to investigators. The officer discharged the gun and fatally shot Ballard at 10:15pm.

Moments before the shooting, Ballard was dropped off to the complex by his friend, Jalen Cooley who recalls Ballard begging to return home because due to having an early class the next morning. After returning home, Ballard left his door propped open with his shoe and left his room key and identification card on the bed suggesting he would not be gone long.

When Ballard never returned to his apartment or contacted anyone, his parents filed a missing person report.

It was not until three days after he was reported missing that the Durham Police Department identified him as being shot by the guard.

Many speculation that this was another common shooting of a black male due to a white officer. However, this incident does not fit that description as the security guard is a black male who is a 15 year veteran with the security company.

The guard is said to have gone through 30 classroom hours as well as 12 hours at a shooting range to be a certified armed guard, according to the president of the security company.

This means the guard is expected to be well trained for intense situations like the one that occurred with Ballard.

Ballard’s family has called for a full investigation on the incident as his mother has expressed that the story does not add up.

So far in the investigation, no charges have been filed against the guard and there is only one witness, who is another guard that was on duty that night.

Although Ballard has been depicted as a criminal since the investigation began,  his peers and community had nothing but kind words to say about him.

Virginia Politano, a NCCU professor, was Ballard’s advisor says he aspired to be a teacher. She also stated that his passion was to work with kids and that he planned to become a teacher once he graduated in fall of 2019.

Ballard’s funeral was held on Friday, Sept. 28 at the Without Limits Student Center.

This student’s death does not only have impact to North Carolina Central University, but to all HBCU’s.

Students may now fear their own campus police departments as well as security guards, the people who are supposed to protect them in their own residential living place.

“This incident does not make me weary as it occurs often and is a normality. It’s so normal that it could happen to any of us,” said Quentin Norman, junior business N.C. A&T student.

To combat this particular issue and incident, NCCU students have chosen to protest in downtown Durham, NC in hopes to change incidents like Ballard’s from occurring.