OT - Two students shot at U of Maryland

Submitted by Avant's Hands on

Mods feel free to delete if not thread-worthy, but I thought with them about to become a Big Ten school it might be worth posting. It didn't happen at the school itself, but a student shot both of his roommates, killing one, and then killed himself. I thought prayers for the friends and families would be nice. I know I jumped a little bit when I first saw this story because my sister is a student there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/2-maryland-students-die-in-murder-suicide-shooting.html?_r=0

Edit: Changed the title. I didn't realize when I posted it that the title was misleading. I blame an 8 am physio exam. Still, if the content is not thread worthy feel free to delete.

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Gobgoblue

February 12th, 2013 at 1:06 PM ^

It is definitely thread-worthy. It's just OT.

So so so terribly sad.  The frequency of these situations make me both worried and thankful. Thoughts go out to the families and friends.  There isn't much more I dread that something like this happening.  

Joined: 07/07/2012

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LSAClassOf2000

February 12th, 2013 at 2:00 PM ^

The Baltimore Sun has some more details on this - (link to their story)

This is very tragic and thoughts and condolences to those involved. One of the many scary things here is that, per the article, this street is a mix of families (with kids) and students (similar to some streets in Ann Arbor), so at another time of day...I don't want to imagine how frightening that would be for everyone there.

 

 

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saveferris

February 12th, 2013 at 2:30 PM ^

To the younger posters on the board.  As a guy who is 20 years removed from his college days in Ann Arbor, are firearms a common presence on campus these days?  I think back to my time at Michigan and can honestly say I never met ANY student who owned or possessed a firearm.  In fact, one of the big political issues/controversies on campus at the time was the administrations decision to arm the University of Michigan police force.  That decision got all kinds of student groups noses in a twist. 

We keep seeing more and more instances of violence on college campuses and it just baffles me because it was almost unheard of back in the 80's and 90's, but it might just be a case of more guns getting into the population and inevitably into the hands of disturbed people.

EDIT {I have to qualify my last paragraph, because after writing it, I recalled one incident my senior year where some guy shot up the Fleming Building with an assault rifle.  I think it was disgruntled U employee.  It was early in the morning and nobody was hurt, but it was still a crazy gun-related incident.}

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Gobgoblue

February 12th, 2013 at 2:34 PM ^

my freshman year in the Chem building RE: a gun, but I don't think anyone was hurt because it was the middle of the night or something?

I have never met/seen someone with a gun.  Classmates, friends, teachers, residents, even nightlife all have been firearm-free.

We do get the occasional Campus Alert email about assaults and such, but they are usually off-campus and non-UM-related persons.  Even those usually don't have threats related to guns.  And I must add: those "incidents" are dwindling here at UM.

 

Hope this helps.  

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Horace Prettyman

February 12th, 2013 at 2:39 PM ^

The only students I remember owning firearms on campus were a couple of the ROTC guys I knew. Other than that I don't remember a single person have a gun at their AA residence. I knew some that had firearms at their parents house, but never in AA. That was only a few years ago.

It seems like it wasn't until after I left AA I realized just how many people in this country own guns.

Joined: 07/14/2010

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PB-J Time

February 12th, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^

I graduated more recently and did not know 1 person who brought a firearm to campus. I was in a fraternity and I think back to some scuffles and issues that arose with other fraternities (almost always after alcohol comsumption) and I now thank God that no one was armed. I am genuinely not trying to get political, but I can only image how drunk fights could escilate if someone had a gun. 

I hope so badly that these things happen less and less, but given the current direction, I am pessimistic. 

Joined: 09/06/2012

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ziggolfer

February 12th, 2013 at 2:59 PM ^

I know several people with guns, and the number has increased since the decision to limit semi-auto weapons. Some students have purchased guns just because the chances of being able to buy them may decrease in the future. With that said, no one lives on campus and owns a gun. the people who own guns use them for hunting purposes not for protection. 

Personally, guns seem pretty normal to me because we grew up with video games. I hope that can shed some light on the issue for you. 


 

Joined: 01/08/2012

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strafe

February 12th, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^

The only person I know who owned a gun around campus was one of my housemates who bought a .22 rifle for target shooting. This was when we had a house in Kerrytown. He was definitely not a typical student, though.

Joined: 08/12/2009

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cp4three2

February 12th, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^

One roommate had a pistol he had due to being in the military. The other roommate had a couple rifles, though I can't remember if he had his semi-automatic one with him ("assault rifle" is more or less used by politicians today to mean semi-automatic, but I think the original meaning meant fully automatic M-16s). 

 

I think it's pretty dependent on where you're from. I found that gun ownership at UM was pretty similar to gun ownership at Rice in Texas. 

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Blue in Yarmouth

February 12th, 2013 at 3:26 PM ^

unfortunately these stories are becoming far too frequent. My thoughts and prayers go out to the familes of those involved. I can't imagine being a parent who has lost a child. So sad. 

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