Bowie State students return to classes after on-campus homecoming shooting
BALTIMORE- Students at Bowie State University returned to classes Monday following the October 7 on-campus shooting.
"I think I feel joy in the air," Bowie State alum Brent Swinton said. "We don't know what the future holds, but I do hope that our future and the future for these students has less guns in it."
Two 19-year-olds were injured in the shooting on Bowie State's homecoming weekend. The shooter remains at large.
"There's a little bit of anxiety knowing the person is still out there and they could always come back at anytime," Elijah Boulware said.
In addition to increased safety measures, students were welcomed back with coffee and doughnuts at the student center, alumni volunteers welcoming them throughout the day, and counseling, and therapy dogs.
"(Security has) definitely gone up since the shooting, since more things, but it shouldn't take that for there already to be those protocols set," freshman Ayana Johnson said. "There were definitely fewer students than there usually was at class, so I think it may take a few extra days to get back in the swing of things."
Bowie State officials say the school has increased the police and private security presence on campus, restricted access at certain gates, and added facial recognition software to the school's surveillance cameras.
"Our students, they don't want to be 'policed', but we do have to keep their safety first and foremost," Swinton said.
The university president laid out several measures the school is considering, including an artificial intelligence weapons detection system, ShotSpotter technology, metal detectors in residential housing, and additional license plate readers across campus.
"It's already hard to be a woman on a campus and worry about safety, but now having to worry about guns—which (don't) have a gender bias—is, like, a lot," Madison Stevens said. "When you are a part of (gun violence), it's almost demanded of you, like you need to talk about it. You need to do something."
