Two shootings took place near Troy’s campus early Sunday morning, and students were urged to shelter-in-place as a safety precaution.
Troy Police responded to calls of shots fired at the Circle K around 12:15 a.m. and to another call of a disturbance near the intersection of Park and Pell streets; shortly after arrival, shots were fired.
Stephanie Ballard, a resident on Park Street, said the gunshots sounded like they were in her backyard.
“Our first thought was to check on our son and make sure he was fine, and no bullets had ricocheted into his room,” Ballard said. “Saturday night was very eventful, and there were sirens going off all night, so when this happened, I was pretty shaken.
“My husband grabbed his gun, because we had no idea if someone was running from the police and trying to run into houses to hide out.”
Another eyewitness, Nick Wright, said he overheard the argument that took place before shots were fired. Wright is a senior broadcast journalism major from Stockbridge, Georgia.
“Me and my friend were just standing around chilling in the backyard of the house when we saw a group of people headed toward the house,” Wright said. “We tried to ignore it just because of the party vibe.
“Moments later, we heard an argument, but we didn’t know where it was coming from.
“We heard, ‘You better not be here when I come back.’ Then we heard another voice yell, ‘You won’t do nothing about it.’ About 10 minutes later we saw a bunch of people running away and heard shots ring out about 10 feet from where we were standing.”
An SOS message was sent out via email to all students at 1:13 a.m. Sunday, stating, “All students in and around campus should shelter in place and remain inside due to shooting in proximity to the campus. More information will be sent out as it becomes available.”
Students and parents were left wondering why the campus SOS system, Omnilert, was not used to issue the warning.
An apology was issued by Troy campus police Sunday morning, saying that there was a breakdown in the process used to make campus notifications.
Troy University Police Chief George Beaudry said online that he takes full responsibility and is working to prevent the same issue from happening in the future.
Beaudry and Chief of Troy City Police Randall Barr both declined to comment further at this time.
Herbert Reeves, dean of student services, explained that it was not a malfunction, but a strategic choice. “Not all of our students are not signed up for Omnilert SOS, so we made a decision to send it out by e-mail to reach the entire student body,” Reeves said. “That's the reason why I sent it out that way, and I wanted to get it out quick.”
Reeves clarified that the best way to alert all students was through the all users email. Reeves also believes that campus is still safe despite the unfortunate events.
“We’re still a very safe campus,” Reeves said. “The event that occurred on Park Street was off campus. Unfortunately, it just happened in close proximity to campus.”
Reeves says the best thing for students to do to avoid dangerous situations is to gauge safety levels.
“It's really picking and choosing where you go, what kind of functions you attend and what's your comfort level or safety level,” Reeves said. “This was an unfortunate incident that occurred, and I wish it had not occurred, but people nowadays are far too quick to pull a weapon out rather than trying to mediate the situation.
“It’s disheartening.”
Sunday morning, Reeves sent out an email stating, “There were no injuries and there is no evidence of an ongoing threat to campus safety at this time. The shelter-in-place guidance is no longer in effect.”
A press release was also issued by Troy City Police Sunday morning stating that both shootings are still under investigation.
John White**, a sophomore, was present when shots were fired at the Circle K.
White said he noticed several individuals acting suspiciously in front of the gas station and was immediately on high alert.
“I saw them kind of gather around each other,” White said. “Then, I heard a couple of ‘pops.’”
White said he wasn’t convinced the sounds were gunfire because they weren’tvery loud. He became convinced when people started to run away, and the sounds continued to go off at an increasing rate.
“I saw most of the individuals start jogging away,” White said. “They did not look concerned at all, and I even saw a few of them with smiles on their faces.”
White and his friend got in the car and drove to safety, although many individuals were still standing at the gas station. White also recalls seeing smoke in the air, but there was no indication of anyone being injured.
When White and his friend returned to get his friend’s car, the gas station was swarmed with police.
“We were told (by a firefighter) that roughly 20 rounds were fired off and that we needed to get away from there because the shooter(s) were supposedly around the tackle shop beside the Circle K,” White said. “I wasn’t very concerned because no one else looked like it.
“They weren’t firing towards us because everybody was running towards our direction. But my friend was pretty scared. Once I found out it was in fact gunshots I was just glad we got out of there when we did because I don’t know what else happened after we left.”
Troy Police urges anyone with information regarding these events to contact the Troy Police Department via the Secret Witness Line at 334-566-5555 or by email at police@troyal.gov.
Some names have been changed to protect the identity of students.
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