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 Amadou Cisse, 29, was shot to death early Monday -- less than an hour after a university staff member was shot at while walking nearby and two female students were robbed at gunpoint, police said.
University President Robert Zimmer said in a letter to students that the school would indefinitely increase the number of car patrols after 4 p.m. and add more officers on bicycles. School officials also said they were stepping up the SafeRide program, which provides late-night transportation for faculty, staff and students.
The campus is in the upscale Hyde Park neighborhood but near impoverished parts of Chicago's South Side.
Cisse, a graduate student in chemistry, had successfully defended his doctoral thesis in recent weeks, officials said. The Senegalese Embassy in Washington said he was the son of a deceased military officer and his mother, two brothers and a sister live in Dakar, the nation's capital.
Shortly before 1:30 a.m. Monday, a witness saw a gunman fire a shot at Cisse's chest before fleeing in a car, police said. Police said the shooting may have been an attempted robbery, although Cisse's wallet and books were left behind.
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 At a community meeting Monday night, university officials were asked to explain why students were not notified about Cisse's death or the other incidents until nine hours later.
"We were in the process of gathering information, and we wanted to make sure that we were very accurate before we sent anything to students and other members of the university," said Kimberly Goff-Crews, vice president and dean of students.
[Associated
Press]
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