Student dies after shooting at South Carolina State University

[January 25, 2014]  By Harriet McLeoad

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) — A student who was shot outside a dormitory at South Carolina State University died on Friday as authorities searched for four suspects believed to be involved in the shooting, officials said.

Police said the male student was shot around 1:30 p.m. EST (1330 ET) on the campus of the historically black college in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Officials have not identified the victim or the suspects. Authorities are still investigating a motive for the shooting, said University Police Chief Mernard Clarkson.

The frequency of shootings at schools and universities in the United States is fueling a national debate over gun control. The latest attack follows a shooting death at Purdue University earlier this week and shootings at high schools and middle schools in recent weeks.

University President Thomas Elzey turned emotional as he announced the student died several hours after the incident.

"South Carolina State University is saddened today because of the loss of one of our students," he said. "He was a very nice young man and it hurts. It hurts us all."

The university said a lockdown imposed after the shooting was lifted, but warned students to remain cautious and report any suspicious activity to police, according to the school's Twitter feed.

The four suspects were believed to have left the campus, Clarkson said. Police have identified one suspect but do not know the identities of the other suspected assailants, officials said.

South Carolina State University has an enrollment of about 3,200 students. Orangeburg, a city of nearly 14,000 people, is located some 75 miles northwest of Charleston.

The shooting was the latest in a rash of gun attacks at schools across the United States.

On Tuesday, a male student was shot and stabbed to death in a classroom at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The day before, a student was shot and critically wounded outside an athletic center at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.

Last week, two students were shot at a high school in Philadelphia, another was shot at a high school in Georgia, and two students were shot at a middle school in New Mexico.

(Additional reporting by Scott Malone in Boston, Zachary Fagenson in Miami; writing by Kevin Gray; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)

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