Shooting At Ark. University Kills 2, Wounds 1

CONWAY, Ark. (AP) – The head of the University of Central Arkansas said Monday that campus was safe after a shooting left two students dead and a third person wounded.

Police said the killings did not appear to be acts of random violence and that there was no remaining threat on the 12,500-student campus.

Police said they were questioning two people and seeking two others. All four are male and from the central Arkansas area. Police said they were not students.

Police had no motive yet for the shooting.

“It does not seem at this time that it was a random act,” said campus police Lt. Preston Grumbles.

Interim president Tom Courtway, who canceled classes Monday, said, “Our campus is safe.”

University police Lt. Rhonda Swindle said two people were being questioned Monday morning but that neither was under arrest. One was pulled over by police during the night and another turned himself in, authorities said. Police said they believed they knew the identity of the other two suspects.

After the shots rang out Sunday night, one victim died on the sidewalk along a narrow alley between a dormitory and a fine arts center. Police said the two other victims rushed into the dorm, where paramedics found them.

Swindle identified the dead as Ryan Henderson, 18, and Chavares Block, 19 – both students. A non-student, Martrevis Norman of Blytheville, was shot in one leg and was released from a hospital after treatment.

“This is just an awful tragedy. It’s the worst thing that can happen on a college campus,” Courtway said earlier. “We have start looking at everything.”

The campus was quiet Monday morning. Police cars cruised its quiet streets and officers roamed the grounds in flak jackets.

Student Aprille Hanson, 20, of Mountain Home said the shooting was “definitely an eye-opener” in the quiet city of Conway, about 30 miles north of Little Rock.

“This campus is very safe. I’ve never felt afraid on this campus,” Hanson said. “Everyone’s going to be a little more tense.”

Faculty and students received calls and e-mails through an automated system shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday warning them of the shooting and urging them to stay inside behind locked doors. School spokesman Warwick Sabin said it was the first use of the university’s new emergency e-mail and phone call system, purchased last year after the Virginia Tech massacre.

Swindle said video captured by surveillance cameras installed at the campus after the massacre would be examined.

It was the second shooting at an Arkansas college this year. On Feb. 27, a man was wounded at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Two suspects were charged. The victim, James Earl Matthews, was released after surgery.

On the Net: University of Central Arkansas: http://www.uca.edu

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)