Classes Canceled, Homecoming Events Paused After Five Shot at Morgan State University; Shooter Still at Large

Morgan State University has decided to cancel all classes on Wednesday out of an “abundance of caution” after five people, four of whom were students, were shot on campus Tuesday evening.

The future of planned homecoming events for the rest of the week was also up in the air.

The shooter remained on the loose on Wednesday and the motive was unknown.

The shooting happened around 9:25 p.m. and the victims, four men and one woman aged 18 to 22, all suffered non-life-threatening wounds.

Students told WBAL-TV that the shots were fired shortly after the coronation of Miss and Mr. Morgan State University at the Murphy Fine Arts Center, a popular annual homecoming week event. Students were heading to a campus ball when the shots rang out.

Morgan State student Imani Jackson told WBAL-TV she say the SWAT officers race onto the campus.

“We were so confused about what was happening, Jackson said. “It was so scary.”

The school president was planning an emergency meeting Wednesday morning to decide the fate of the rest of the homecoming events.

“I’m terrified.  On Saturday we’re supposed to be having a big party.  I don’t want to be on campus,” Jackson said.

Around midnight, police the situation was no longer "active" but declined to say more. The campus' shelter-in-place order was lifted around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Dozens of students wearing gowns and suits started trickling out of the arts center, where they had been waiting.

“We didn’t open the campus up until our SWAT team had cleared the building where we thought the suspect may have ran or where we thought the shot came from,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said in a media briefing. “They cleared every single floor twice.”

Crime tape continued to surround the building where the shooting took place as police remained on the scene on Wednesday morning.