Rhodes Campus Killing

Today is a sad, sad day in our little University town. If you had to look outside, you wouldn't say so though. The sun is shining brightly, giving off a welcomed warmth after the week of rain we've just experienced. But there's this awful atmosphere around campus. You can just tell that things are not alright. Campus is quiet - too quiet. Even for a Saturday.

This morning around 6am a second year student was shot and killed by her 34-year old boyfriend in one of our men's res. After killing his girlfriend, he turned the gun on himself and ended his own life. The police removed both the bodies from the res a couple of hours ago.

I am heartbroken. Details are still very unclear, bearing in mind that this awful tragedy only happened a few hours ago, but you can click here and here to read the two articles that have been released so far. My heart breaks for this poor girl, her friends, her family and her fellow students. I mentioned in this post that our University is a small one, I stated that you cannot walk out of your room without bumping into at least three people you know. I have friends that were friends with this poor girl. This is the type of thing that you read about in the news, this shouldn't be happening a few hundred meters away from me! What kind of world are we living in where girls cannot even feel safe in their own home/res or feel protected by the ones that they are supposedly loved by? I do not know the details of what happened this morning, but what I do know is that this has terrified me. I think about the fact that I was at that res dropping a friend off a mere 30 minutes before this happened and I get chills. I think about the fact that instead of walking back from lunch, like she should be doing right now, her body is lying in a cold hospital a few kilometers from where it all happened and my eyes fill up with tears.

We won't know what really happened for a while, and in situations such as these, it's best not to speculate, but one can't help wondering what exactly was going on this morning. I have a friend who not only lives in the same res as this girl, but happens to be in the room next door to her and we have all heard stories about how at 3am this morning she was walking home and noticed a car following her, she then took refuge in the men's res, where some of the boys helped her get away from the shooter. The shooter then apparently managed to get into the res and shot both her and himself. Thankfully, the person who lives in the room where the incident took place was not harmed. This may or may not be true, and as I mentioned above, it is best not to speculate.

While we wait to hear more about what happened, I just ask you to keep this girl's family and friends in your prayers. There are many heart broken students walking around campus today.