The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Top Stories

Discussion

January 23, 2013

Students cower as shots ring out at Texas college

From The Associated Press

HOUSTON — Luis Resendiz hid quietly in a small room with dozens of classmates after gunshots erupted in a courtyard on his college campus north of Houston.

There his mind quickly drifted to last month’s Connecticut elementary school massacre that left 20 children dead, wondering if another gunman was on a rampage on the other side of the door.

“I didn’t think something like this could happen,” said Resendiz, 22, who crouched in the room for about 20 minutes before being allowed to leave. “You don’t think about it happening to you.”

A volley of gunshots around noon Tuesday at Lone Star College prompted a lockdown then evacuation of the campus. A maintenance worker who was caught in the crossfire was sent to a hospital, along with two others who authorities believe were involved in the shooting.

Carlton Berry, 22, was arrested Tuesday and formally booked early Wednesday on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to Harris County Sheriff’s Office records. Berry will be arraigned Thursday. Bond is set at $60,000.

Berry was hospitalized, sheriff’s officials said. His condition, along with the conditions of the other person involved in the shooting and maintenance worker were not available.

A fourth person also was taken to a hospital for treatment of a medical condition, Harris County sheriff’s Maj. Armando Tello said, without describing that medical condition.

Authorities offered no details on what prompted the shooting. One of the two people involved had a student ID, and both people were hospitalized, Tello said.

At least 10 patrol cars clustered on the campus’ west side as emergency personnel tended to the wounded and loaded them onto stretchers. Students led by officers ran from the buildings where they had been hiding as authorities evacuated the campus.

Keisha Cohn, 27, was in a building about 50 feet away and began running as soon as she heard the shots.

“To stay where I was wasn’t an option,” said Cohn, who fled from a building that houses computers and study areas. All the students were eventually evacuated, running out of buildings as police officers led them to safety.

Mark Zaragosa said he had just left an EMT class when he saw two people who were injured, so he stopped to help them. He described the wounds as minor: One with a gunshot to the knee and another to the buttocks.

“We were carrying (one man) over to an open area and they (the officers) told us to put him down — with all weapons drawn — and they cuffed him right there,” Zaragosa told KHOU-TV.

The shooting last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., heightened security concerns at campuses across the country. In Texas, several school districts have either implemented or are considering a plan to allow faculty to carry guns on campus. While guns are not allowed on college campuses, the Texas Legislature this year might debate a bill that would allow them.

Richard Carpenter, chancellor of the Lone Star College System, said the campus is a gun-free zone that “has been safe for 40 years.”

“We think it’s still safe,” he added.

The campus reopened late Tuesday afternoon, with classes expected to resume Wednesday.

Daniel Flores, 19, was in a second-floor tutoring lab with about 60 people when he heard a noise that sounded “like someone was kicking a door.”

Once he and others realized that sound was gunfire, they fled to the nearby student services center, where authorities kept them for about 30 minutes before letting them leave.

Cody Harris, 20, said he was in a classroom with six or seven other students waiting for a psychology class to start when he heard eight shots. He and other students looked at each other, said, “I guess we should get out of here,” and fled.

“I was just worried about getting out,” Harris said. “I called my grandmother and asked her to pick me up.”

 

Text Only
Top Stories
  • 052213 Jop tor an4_72.jpg Federal, state leaders salute Joplin’s recovery

    A deadly May twister may have punched a hole in Joplin and Duquesne two years ago, but the resolve to repair it will help other communities stand strong when they face similar disasters. That was the message of state and national diginitaries to a crowd of about 2,500 who observed the second anniversary of Joplin’s devastating May 22, 2011, storm during a ceremony Wednesday in Cunningham Park.

    May 22, 2013 4 Photos

  • Rick Rescorla.jpg Rick Rescorla award named for hero of Vietnam War, 9-11 terror attacks

    The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience is named for a 62-year-old vice president of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. who directed an evacuation of the company’s 2,700-person workforce in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2011.

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • 052213 Jop tor an1_72.jpg Banner from Joplin to be sent to Moore residents

    A giant vinyl banner adorned with heartfelt messages from Joplin tornado survivors to the residents of Moore, Okla., became a centerpiece of Wednesday’s observance of the two-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado.

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • r052213moorejoplin.jpg Families in Moore, Joplin linked by disasters

    Zach Woodcock knew the storms were going to be bad on May 22, 2011, so turning on the Weather Channel was a natural. What he saw filled him with fear. The Moore resident’s family lived in Joplin, Mo.

    May 22, 2013 2 Photos

  • Nixon: Joplin offers 'a beacon of hope'

    Two days ago, after seeing the devastating destruction in Oklahoma, Nixon said, "I believe that you are something else too, something the people of Moore need right now. A word we all remember seeing, in front of the old high school, made from duct tape: Hope.

    May 22, 2013

  • Grant enables 20th Street Project to move forward

    A $20 million grant from the Economic Development Administration, announced at Joplin's tornado anniversary event today, will enable the 20th Street Project and the building of a new Joplin Public Library to move forward.

    May 22, 2013

  • 052213 park prep.jpg Community gearing up for two-year anniversary ceremony this afternoon

    With the playground full of children, it could be any other day at Joplin’s Cunningham Park, but the white tents popping up and neat rows of white chairs lined up nearby indicate something more is happening today.

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • Awards mark Joplin observance of tornado anniversary

    Joplin will serve as the beacon for resilient recovery from a disaster to communities across the United States, including recently hit Moore, Okla., said the nation’s secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano.

    May 22, 2013

  • VIDEO: Restore Joplin designer stepping up to help Moore tornado victims

    The designer of the Restore Joplin T-shirts who helped raise nearly a quarter-million dollars for Joplin in the wake of the 2011 tornado has put together a similar design to raise money for residents of Moore, Okla.

    May 22, 2013

  • SMB sets up fund for Moore, Okla., storm victims

    Southwest Missouri Bank has set up an account so area residents can donate to storm victims in Moore, Okla., which was hit by an EF-5 tornado on May 20.

    May 22, 2013