The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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April 18, 2008

Shots fired at SHSU event; no one hurt

By Jason Rollinson

A Sam Houston State University official confirmed Friday that shots were fired during an on-campus event Thursday around 9 p.m.

According to Frank Krystyniak, SHSU public relations director, an organization on campus, Sigma Gamma Rho, was having a stepping show in the “pit” between the Administration Building and the Farrington Science Building.

Other SHSU fraternities and sororities were there as well groups from other universities.

The entertainment began around 7:45 p.m. and ended at 8:50 and sometime shortly after 9, a confrontation erupted between members of a Sam Houston organization and one from another school.

Krystyniak said that Sam Houston students tried to break up the fight, and one member from the other school fired two shots into the air.

“We’re trying to determine who actually fired the shots,” Krystyniak said. “The University Police Department has taken statements from witnesses and are working closely with police from the other school.”

“Officers did a good job of handling the situation,” Krystyniak said. “They were called in and investigated. They checked nearby buildings and closed the library and a computer lab which were open at the time and then determined that there was no threat and no cause for further alarm.”

He said that no injuries were reported but that the university is taking the altercation seriously.

“Anytime you have shots fired even though they weren’t fired at someone, the bullets have to go somewhere,” Krystyniak said. “It’s against university policy to have a handgun on campus.

The last time an arrest was made on campus for a weapons violation was during the 2004-05 school year, according to the UPD’s Web site.

“The investigation continues to be ongoing,” Krystyniak said. “We’re looking into this and making sure that this doesn’t happen again. We want our events and students to be safe.”

He said that the school will have “KATsafe” — an emergency system that alerts students, faculty and staff in the event of an emergency — in operation by the summer.

KATsafe will notify contacts in the database, which is in the process of being created, by voice mail, text messaging, phone and TTY for the hearing impaired.

“The system is new and will take a while to learn how to use it,” Krystyniak said. “After the Virginia Tech tragedy, we addressed the matter. Other schools around the nation such as Baylor, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech are using it.”

In addition to those schools, 145 other colleges nationwide have signed on to add the system.

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