By Tyler Bui | Staff Writer, Video by Kennedy Dendy and Sarah Gill
A shooting at Eastgate Apartments left the Baylor campus on lockdown for roughly 45 minutes late Thursday afternoon.
A Baylor Alert was issued at 4:46 p.m. telling students to seek shelter immediately after Waco Police Department reported a shooting three blocks from campus at 1912 S. Fifth St.
Waco Police Sgt. David Conley said the incident was isolated to Eastgate Apartments and did not involve Baylor in any way.
“A 22-year-old male was shot in the arm. We’re still investigating, but it does not involve Baylor,” Conley said. “The victim claimed that four to five black male suspects broke into his apartment and shot him.”
The victim was transported to Baylor Scott & White with non-life-threatening injuries.
Baylor students were given the all-clear to resume normal activities at 5:32 p.m. after witnesses observed suspects fleeing the scene and heading away from campus.
A motive for the shooting is still unknown, and Waco PD continues to investigate the shooting while the suspects are still at large.
Houston sophomore Katie Nemitt was in the Baylor Sciences Building when the first Baylor Alert was sent out.
“We’ve all seen Sandy Hook and the other school shootings, but never in my life would I ever think I would go through something like this,” Nemitt said. “We were all pretty terrified for a bit. We didn’t know what was going to happen, where the situation was going [or] if it had escalated. All we knew is that we just had to stay quiet and wait. It’s terrifying when you don’t know anything.”
Long Beach, Calif., junior Sam Bedford was in her neuroscience lab when her professor ordered students to stay inside.
“Being in a state where this kind of stuff is on the news all the time… it’s kind of frightening,” Bedford said. “My mom was freaking out and she’s 2,000 miles away. Both my parents wanted to know if their children were alright—my sister goes here too and she was on the other side of campus, so I was freaking out about her too.”
Dallas junior Shiro Bachia said the incident was shocking and something she didn’t expect to experience on Baylor’s campus.
“It makes it a lot more realistic when you think that it’s actually happening at your campus, or even just the surrounding area,” Bachia said. “It’s crazy to even just think about because you always hear it in the news, but I guess in your head you never process that you could be in that situation too.”
The case is being handled by Waco PD, and investigations are still ongoing as they continue to search for the possible suspects and their motives.
Follow up coverage:
Baylor DPS discusses community response to Thursday shooting
