Morgan State football players stabbed
ThreeMorgan Statefootball players were stabbed in a fight outside a dining hall Tuesday afternoon, leaving one player in serious condition, according to Baltimore police.
University spokesman Clint Coleman said the players were stabbed when someone began swinging a knife wildly. Coleman said one of the players was slashed across the chest, another was cut in the cheek and the third was cut in the arm.
They were taken to a hospital, and Coleman said that he believed all three would survive and that at least one suspect, a student, was taken into custody. The police also said the injuries were not considered life-threatening.
It is believed that Tuesday's incident might be connected to fights over the weekend at a campus dance.
School officials held a campus meeting Tuesday night to talk about what happened.
"We expect you as students to take responsibility for your own behavior and actions," university president David Wilson told those in attendance.
Police spokesman Ruganzu Howard says officers, who were called to the university for reports of a stabbing, discovered one person suffering from a stab wound to the chest. Howard says that person is alive, but the wound is serious.
Police commissioner Anthony W. Batts confirmed that the victims were football players, although their identities have not been released.
"The police are confident that there is no remaining threat to the University," Wilson said in a statement."I want to assure the University community that we here at Morgan take the safety of the entire University quite seriously, and as such, the behaviors that we have seen from a few of our students over the past several days will simply not be tolerated. ... This is not Morgan!"
Kevin Banks, vice president for student affairs, repeated that assertion.
"The stuff you've seen on TV the past few days is not Morgan State University,'' Banks said.
Wilson's statement noted that because the incident was between "known parties" and not considered a random act of violence, "no text alerts went out because the general public was not in imminent danger."
School officials held a campus meeting Tuesday night to talk about what happened.
"We expect you as students to take responsibility for your own behavior and actions,'' Wilson told those in attendance.
The stabbing marks the third instance of violence on Morgan State's campus in less than a week. A male student was stabbed Friday with scissors by his roommate after an argument over the cleanliness of their dorm room. Early Saturday, an on-campus party was broken up after fights broke out.
Freshman Shakia Marine, 20, who did not attend the campus meeting, said she is a little worried about the latest spate of violence.
"My godfather has concerns about me coming here," Marine said. "There needs to be more security guards walking around. After today, it made me feel scared. My roommate said we should get some Mace to protect ourselves. I think the school needs to take more action. It's not the first time something like this has happened."
Morgan State is the largest historically black university in Maryland and has about 6,000 students, according to its website.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
