Georgia State University leaders on Monday discussed plans to add more security measures on its downtown Atlanta campus after two students were wounded in a weekend shooting.
The changes include more lighting, cameras and call boxes. Officials said the plans for Georgia State, which has the largest enrollment of any university statewide, were already in the works as part of a comprehensive safety plan, but they discussed them during the first of two listening sessions Monday to address safety concerns on the city streets surrounding the campus.
“Our students should feel safe in all spaces on campus. I really want them to feel that way,” said its president, M. Brian Blake.
The two Georgia State students were among four people injured in a shooting at about 5 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of John Wesley Dobbs Avenue and Courtland Street, authorities said. The two Georgia State students are recovering from their injuries, Blake said. One woman was hospitalized in critical condition Sunday, and a man took himself to the hospital, police said. Officials said during Monday morning’s session that the students wounded were not the intended targets. The investigation was ongoing Monday.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Trenton Ellis, 19, a junior, attended the meeting and said Georgia State needs more safe spaces for students to gather on campus. Ellis said he was concerned that officials weren’t taking his worries about safety, particularly for female students, seriously. About 60% of Georgia State’s students are women.
“I feel like it’s a surreal thing to hear four people got shot a few feet from where you sleep,” he said.
Georgia State has more than 51,000 students at all of its metro Atlanta campuses. As Georgia State has grown and added more residential halls and other buildings to its downtown campus, the university has grappled with crime.
Sunday’s shooting was near where another student was fatally shot in December, according to university officials. In April, Georgia State put more cameras and metal plates to deter drag racing after large crowds blocked the intersection of Courtland Street and John Wesley Dobbs Avenue and gunfire erupted.
About two dozen people attended Monday’s meeting, which took about 90 minutes, at Piedmont Central, a residential hall a block away from the location of Sunday’s shooting. Students asked questions about ways to reduce vehicle and pedestrian traffic from non-Georgia State students in the area. Much of the conversation centered around a RaceTrac gas station at the corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Piedmont avenues, where students said a lot of activity takes place late at night.
About the Author
