By Rachel Royster | News Editor, Video by George Schroeder | LTVN Managing Editor
Early Sunday morning, four to eight shots were fired near Baylor’s campus at the 2300 block of 2nd St., leaving one man dead. No Baylor students were harmed and one source who went to the party and another team member confirmed the party was hosted by members of the acrobatics & tumbling team after winning their meet on Saturday.
Waco Police Department’s news release said officers were dispatched around 2:15 a.m. to “an after-party involving Baylor students.” An uninvited man entered the party and began threatening attendees with a gun. The man was not a Baylor student.
When police were on their way to respond, the call changed to shots fired. An argument had broken out, and a second man shot and killed the original aggressor. The second man is unidentified at this point in the investigation.
Carrollton senior Allie Steed, who lives across the street from where the shooting occurred, said she wasn’t sleeping well that night, so she called a friend. When she hung up, she heard yelling followed by repeated gunshots.
Another neighbor, Montgomery senior Laine Harper, said she originally thought the sound was someone banging on a door.
“I just kept hearing repeated banging noises,” Harper said. “But it was like 1-2-3-4, and then a pause, and then it’s like 1-2-3-4, and then a pause. I found out this morning that those were gunshots that were just right down the street.”
The women who live in the house where the shooting happened refused to comment due to the traumatic experiences they’d endured just hours before.
Steed said she got back on the phone with her friend out of fear, and the friend could hear the gunshots through the phone herself.
“I was like, ‘OK, I guess if no one shows up in the next couple minutes, I’ll call 911,’” Steed said. “I heard sirens, and there were probably six cop cars. There were two fire trucks, two ambulances. And I can even show I can see everything right from my window. There were a bunch of people that walked outside, and I was not going to be one of those people walking outside where I heard gunshots.”
At 4:45 a.m., when Steed said she woke up again, police were still on the scene.
Yukon, Okla., senior Jantzen Griswold lives across the street from the house where the shots occurred. He said when he got home around midnight, he saw all the cars parked on the street and thought it was just another party. This morning, he said he found out what happened and was shocked.
“It definitely makes it kind of crazy to think, looking across the street, that happened last night,” Griswold said. “I just think it encourages me to be more aware of my surroundings and the type of situations I’m in. Obviously, no one probably would have known that was gonna happen, but just being cognizant of where I’m putting myself is now more real than probably any other time.”
Sherman senior Ryan Hugus lives two doors down from the scene, and he said he wasn’t surprised at all. He said he’s grown accustomed to hearing shots fired in the neighborhood.
“I think it’s a little interesting that it’s getting all these college houses now, because I’ve always kind of known that Waco wasn’t the safest area to be in,” Hugus said. “You hear about stuff in town, but it usually stays away from this side of it. It seems like it’s kind of creeping in on where the students are living.”
Baylor spokesperson Lori Fogleman said the university is aware of the situation and is “working to learn more information.”
Waco PD is still trying the man who shot the original aggressor as of Sunday afternoon.
Anyone with information on this homicide investigation is encouraged to call police at 254-750-7500 or send in a tip anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 254-753-4357.
