2 Louisiana State Students Found Dead

International Ph.D. Scholars Slain In Campus Apartment; 3 Men Sought In Home Invasion

(CBS/AP)  Two students were found shot to death in an apparent home invasion at a Louisiana State University apartment, and officials decided to keep the campus open Friday while police searched for three suspects.

The victims, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam, both international Ph.D. students, were found inside an apartment at the Edward Gay complex late Thursday night after authorities received a call seeking medical attention.

Both men had been shot once in the head, said Charles Zewe, an LSU system spokesman. Three men were seen leaving the area, and police were searching for them.

"From what we're being told, Komma was bound with a computer cable and shot," Zewe said. "The other man was found near the door."

No other violence was reported and the campus was not locked down, though officials were cautioning students about traveling to the university Friday morning and police patrols were increased on campus. Students were taking final exams, and many on the 30,000-student campus had already gone home for the semester break.

"Police actually think it was a straight home invasion and not a concern to the rest of the campus," said Kristine Calongne, a university spokeswoman.

An emergency text message was sent to students registered for an emergency alert system, but not all students received it, the university said. The problem was being investigated.

Calongne said only 8,000 students - less than one-third of the student body - had signed up for cell-phone notification. Officials also sent out an e-mail, voice mail message and posted a message to the LSU Web site. Many campuses implemented such emergency alert measures following the shootings at Virginia Tech earlier this year.

The call that alerted police to the crime was made by Allam's pregnant wife, who returned home and found the men dead, said Srinivasa Pothakamuri, a friend of Komma. Komma, a biochemstry student, was visiting the apartment at the time. Allam was in the chemistry program. Both men were from India, Zewe said.

Pothakamuri said Komma's wife contacted his wife Thursday night, worried that her husband hadn't returned after what he had said would be a 10 minute trip to see Allam. "He never came home," Pothakamuri said. They went to the apartment, and saw police.

The apartment building where the shootings took place is designated for married and graduate students, and is near a field on the 2,000-acre campus where the university's band practices. It is on the edge of the campus, close to one of Baton Rouge's highest-crime areas and near an elementary school. The apartment complex, a cluster of pale yellow cinderblock, three-story buildings, is within sight of the transition offices of Louisiana Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal.

LSU's police department and Baton Rouge Police are both working the case - they are urging students to use caution when moving about the campus, reports CBS News affiliate WWL-TV.

They also said at no time was any part of the campus under lockdown.

The killings were the first homicides on LSU's campus since the early 1990s, Calogne said.

[my2centss]

"LOL" 30,000 free people including the descendents of slaves are killed with guns each year!~
Posted by schoollord at 11:48 AM : Dec 16, 2007

Would you feel better if they were killed by some other means? Maybe like in unarmed African nations with machetes, or sticks.

[gunownerdan]

"Free people can own guns, slaves can not."

[kraziquban]

Happy Holidays from the NRA. Yet another senseless killing.

[gunownerdan]

"The principle of self-defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi..."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr

www.a-human-right.com

[gunownerdan]

Doncbs,
How did you erase one of your posts?

[gunownerdan]

DonCBS,
There you go again with your crazy stereotypes and ignorant assumptions.
Of course you will never realize that when a gun is successfully used in self defense, an overwhelmingly large majority of the time not one shot is fired and no one is harmed. According to government and university studies by criminologists, guns are used successfully in self defense 80,000 to 2,500,000 times each year in America to save lives and prevent crimes.
That''s well over 200 times a day.

[myidoncbs]

"Is Louisiana State University another ''gun-free zone''?"

Not really, though they do have a gun policy that prevents some people from having guns in some places.

They allow guns for these people/places:

* Federal, state or local law enforcement officers (anywhere, all the time)
* School officials or employees or students acting under their direction (anywhere, all the time)
* Anywhere on private property (all the time)
* Anyone with a concealed handgun permit (anywhere, all the time)
* Anywhere it is Constitutionally protected (all the time)

So, I''d say there are LOTS of guns floating around LSU.

However, dan, unless you are fully awake and fully loaded and aimed at everyone within gunshot distance at all times, 24x7x365 (which is impossible), then it is not the least bit difficult for someone else who intends to do you harm to "get the drop on you". Bang! It only takes 1 shot. It only takes a fraction of a second. You can only "defend" yourself with a gun if the person who wants to kill you is so stu.pid that he announces his presense and intention to kill you, but then takes a little nap while you pull out your gun, aim, and shoot. In what fantasy world does that happen?

[gunownerdan]

Is Louisiana State University another "gun-free zone"?

www.a-human-right.com

[j-whitman]

Abdoul,,,, Good talking to you, good night.

[abdoul_pasha]

It`s very late and I go sleeping. good night!

[j-whitman]

Trans-Mutant,,,, Turn down the volume or change channels,, It doesn''t look like there is much more to say about more students being found shot dead.

[trans-mutant]

Bunch of pernicious ***!! shut up already.

[abdoul_pasha]

And I think it is awful meat, I haven`t tried it even when I lived in England.

[j-whitman]

underdogus,,,, Quoting the Quran now ???? Looks like absoulte fear has you hook line & sinker.

[abdoul_pasha]

underdogus, you should shoot yourself, my son!

[abdoul_pasha]

I don`t eat pork

[underdogus]

Abdoul_Pasha how about some pork?

[j-whitman]

fitedafuture,,,, Now that''s a money making opertunity -- Shooting ranges in Shopping Malls

[abdoul_pasha]

Be calm, there was such a "wave" in my country, even my son was injured with knife

[j-whitman]

Displeased,,, Maybe they shouldn''t have picked LSU