Visiting the site of the nation’s most recent deadly mass shooting, President Barack Obama said Friday the public must unite to figure out how to keep violence from happening so regularly.
But on the same day that the president met with families in Roseburg, Ore., incidents on campuses hundreds of miles apart claimed two lives.
An 18-year-old student from Castle Rock was killed and three other students wounded in an early-morning altercation near Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
Later Friday morning, a male freshman was killed and a second student was wounded outside a student dorm at Texas Southern University in Houston.
“We’re going to have to come together as a country to see how we can prevent these issues from taking place” so regularly, Obama told reporters after the approximately hour-long, private meeting with grieving relatives in Oregon. “But today, it’s about the families, their grief and the love we feel for them.”
Obama said occasions such as these always remind him that any child or parent or family member could suffer such a loss.
Immediately after a gunman killed eight students and a teacher at Umpqua Community College last week, Obama angrily said thoughts and prayers are no longer enough in the aftermath and that the nation’s gun laws need to be changed. He pledged to “politicize” the issue.
But that message didn’t sit well in Roseburg, where gun ownership is popular. Hundreds of supporters and protesters gathered near the airport for Obama’s arrival, with signs welcoming him mixed with others advocating for gun rights.
Arizona
An overnight brawl between two groups of students escalated into violence Friday when a freshman at Northern Arizona University opened fire on four fraternity members, killing one and wounding three.
Student Colin Brough, from Castle Rock, was killed, and Nicholas Prato, Kyle Zientek and Nicholas Piring were wounded.
Steven Jones, an 18-year-old fraternity pledge, told police he shot the group of students only after they hit him in the face and chased him, according to court documents. He also said he tried to administer first aid to one of the victims.
Prosecutors said the suspect’s account amounted to a self-serving statement and alleged Jones was the aggressor.
The shooting occurred in a parking lot just outside Mountain View Hall dormitory. The victims were all members of the Delta Chi fraternity. Jones is a pledge at Sigma Chi.
Jones was booked for one count of first-degree homicide and three counts of aggravated assault. Bail was set at $2 million.
Texas
A student was killed and another person was wounded in a shooting outside a Texas Southern University student-housing complex Friday, and police detained at least two people for questioning.
The university quickly went on lockdown after the shooting was reported around 11:30 a.m. in a parking lot at the University Courtyard Apartments, which is on the edge of the Houston campus. Students and teachers were told to stay inside until the lockdown was lifted Friday afternoon, after two men were detained, but police said no charges have been filed.
University president John Rudley said the student who was killed was a freshman, but his name and age haven’t been released.
Classes were canceled following the lockdown Friday.
Rudley said classes will resume Monday.
The university said another shooting occurred early Friday and that the school was increasing police presence on campus.
“Like President Obama says, this is getting to be too regular,” Rudley said.
Colorado Springs
Numerous police officers conducted a room-by-room search for a girl spotted on the campus of Mitchell High School armed with a gun. They did not find the girl, police said.
The name of the girl, whose identity is apparently known by school officials and police, has not been released because she is a juvenile.
Several students told a resource officer that they saw a girl armed with a gun between buildings at 11:27 a.m.
The Associated Press, the Washington Post and The Denver Post contributed to this report.
Guns on Colorado campuses
Although Arizona is an open-carry state, Northern Arizona University’s did not stop 18-year-old freshman Steven Jones from shooting four people, killing one, early Friday.
The University of Colorado and Colorado State University allow people with concealed-carry permits to go armed, as a result of a 2012 , after CU tried to enforce a ban. The decision allowed in the state.
However, requires that a permittee be at least 21 years old, which would block most undergraduates.
Many schools require students who live in campus housing to store their guns with university police.
While CU allows concealed weapon permittees to carry a licensed concealed weapon in other campus buildings, they remain banned from Folsom Field and any other ticketed public performance venues. “The purchase of a ticket to a CU public performance constitutes an agreement with the university to not carry a concealed weapon, even as a CCW permit holder, into the venue,” .
It is a Class 6 felony to unlawfully possess any deadly weapon on the property of any college.
