BALTIMORE — Morgan State students heard gunshots.
One resident saw a 19-year-old who had been shot Wednesday night at an apartment complex near campus.
The 19-year-old – who has not been identified – died at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. at the off-campus apartments Marble Hall Garden apartments.
The 19-year-old was a security guard employed by Allied Universal, which is contracted by Morgan State University, a Morgan State spokesperson said.
“We just heard some shots and we came out to see what was going on and it was police already out there,” student Tommy Awenah said.
MORE: 19-year-old killed in shooting near Morgan State University
Outside of students’ apartment in Northeast Baltimore was police lights and crime scene tape.
First responders tended to the 19-year-old man who was shot and collapsed near the apartment complex.
“I just seen everything taped off down there,” said student Shacara Lamont. “I asked the policeman that was down what happened. He wouldn't really say. I said ‘Something bad really happened?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’”
Both Baltimore Police Department and Morgan State police, in response to the shooting, are beefing up patrol in the area.
As detectives spent Thursday afternoon going through those same apartments, one of the residents said he heard the gunfire.
“Very much concerned. It could've been me,” a resident said. “I don't know if they were trying to rob him, if it was something that they had beef or something. All I know is I heard five gunshots ring out and I just left it alone.”
Witnesses told WMAR-2 News that the victim stumbled through the apartment complex and ultimately collapsed near where people were living, and they heard him crying out for help.
“As I was standing in my restroom, I could hear a gentleman yelling, screaming, too, really loudly and it sound kind of panicked,” a resident said. “When I looked out my bathroom window I could see a gentleman coming across the grassy area around the corner.”
A resident said the shooting started near Cold Spring and 43rd Street behind a Baltimore City Fire House.
“I heard him and when I looked out my window I could physically see him,” the resident said. “He had a bookbag on. He had dark colored pants. He's coming across the grass. I'm watching him look over his shoulder, looking back, still screaming. He has his phone in his hand, kind of trying to get it together.”
Residents and students are more alert now, sharing with their peers just how important it is to pay attention to potentially dangerous situations.
“Pay attention to your surroundings,” Lamont said. “Things are so crazy now. Everything's going on, people angry, hungry, mad, broke and it’s like everybody just hurting, people shooting people.”
Morgan State officials released a statement regarding the shooting in part saying Wednesday’s murder victim was not a Morgan State Student.
However, they will increase university police patrols in the area since so many Morgan State students live nearby.
