South Carolina State University said a Thursday night shooting in a dorm room at the Hugine Suites housing complex left two people dead and another person injured, and it described the incident as following a drug deal involving marijuana. Police said the man facing a murder charge in connection with the shooting was identified as 18-year-old Khamanti Lytrel Kennedy, who was not a student at the university.
The State Law Enforcement Division said the attack occurred after Kennedy and three other people arrived at the university in a car and went to the dorm room, where the shooting happened during what investigators described as a marijuana deal. The arrest warrant filed by the agency says Kennedy ran from the dorm room after the shooting. The warrant did not identify who fired the weapons, according to the report.
Investigators said the victims were Henry L. Crittington, 19, and Terrell Thomas, 18. The university and law enforcement officials said neither man was a South Carolina State University student. Officials said the person who was wounded was a student, but the report said the name and condition of that person had not been released.
Kennedy was arraigned Tuesday in Orangeburg County, court records described in the report. He denied bond, answered questions from the judge, and the report said he did not appear to have a lawyer present. The report also said Kennedy was out on bond after an earlier September arrest for having a gun on campus, citing court records.
Campus officials said the university put new security measures in place after an earlier fatal shooting near the same residential complex during Oct. 4 homecoming celebrations. In that earlier shooting, a 19-year-old woman died in gunfire, and several people were arrested on gun-related charges, according to the report.
For the latest incident, the university said additional surveillance cameras and other steps implemented after the prior shooting helped identify Kennedy as a suspect. After the shooting, the university said it put more security measures in place again, including restricting visitor access to campus hours and requiring security screening. It said visitors can only be on campus from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., while students enter through their own gate and must use their IDs.
The university also said it is asking lawmakers for $8 million to fund additional security upgrades, including a new police station on campus and more officers. South Carolina State University, founded in 1896, is the state’s only public historically Black university and has more than 2,900 students, according to its website. The campus community recently marked the 58th anniversary of the Orangeburg Massacre, when officers shot and killed three young men on Feb. 8, 1968, during protests against segregation at a bowling alley.