Two people have died and one person was injured following a shooting at a residential complex at South Carolina State University, officials said. The incident led to a campus lockdown that lasted nearly eight hours before it was lifted early Friday morning.
The shooting happened Thursday night at the Hugine Suites student residential complex. The university said it received reports of gunfire at about 9:15 p.m., prompting authorities to place the campus in Orangeburg under lockdown. The restriction was lifted at around 5 a.m. Friday.
University officials have not released the names of the two people who died or provided details about the condition of the injured person.
The incident comes just over four months after two separate shootings during the school’s homecoming celebrations on October 4. One of those shootings, which also occurred near the same residential complex, claimed the life of a 19-year-old woman. A man was injured in the other incident. Following those events, the university introduced new safety measures.
Kaya Mack, who was making a food delivery on campus at the time of Thursday’s shooting, said she heard gunshots and then saw police officers arriving at the scene.
“Their loud sirens kind of shook me,” she told local television station WLTX-TV. “We were looking around, me and other people on campus, we’re all looking around like ‘What’s going on?’”
Law enforcement officers remained on campus and in nearby areas as investigations continued. The university said it requested the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division to take over the investigation.
Classes scheduled for Friday were canceled, and counseling services were made available to students.
Several people were previously arrested on gun-related charges in connection with the October shootings.
After the earlier incidents, University President Alexander Conyers announced additional safety measures, including new fencing along the campus perimeter and increased security patrols to better control access. Repairs were also carried out on damaged perimeter barriers.
Ahead of the university’s annual Youth and ROTC Day on November 1, the school introduced further security steps, including a second layer of fencing between Hugine Suites and Goff Street and repairs along the shared boundary with Claflin University.
Investigations into Thursday’s shooting are ongoing.
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