Four Lincoln University students were injured in a shooting Wednesday afternoon outside The Linc, and the Lincoln University Police Department's chief told the LU Board of Curators on Thursday that the shooting stemmed from an earlier incident at a residence hall.
Officers were called at 4:29 p.m. Wednesday to The Linc on Lafayette Street for multiple reports of gunshots fired, with several people and vehicles struck by gunfire, according to Jefferson City Police Department reports. Callers also gave descriptions of vehicles leaving the area amid the gunfire.
LUPD Chief Gary Hill said he and another officer were the first on the scene and provided medical care before more responders arrived.
Two students were critically injured, Hill said, and both were out of surgery Thursday afternoon, though one may require further surgery.
JCPD had reported that of the four victims taken to Capital Region Medical Center, three were transported to University Hospital in Columbia for more extensive treatment.
JCPD gave a brief update Thursday to note one of the four victims had been released from hospital treatment. No information on the identity of the victims was released.
JCPD also noted five vehicles were towed from the scene to recover evidence.
"There is no one in custody at this time and investigators continue to attempt to determine a motive," JCPD's news release notes.
"We know that the incident that occurred yesterday at The Linc was connected to an incident that we had within our residence halls, roughly around 3:30 in the morning prior to," Hill said Thursday.
"We had several altercations going on at the time," he added, but officers dispersed students and investigated who was involved.
"In the course of that time, we found out that some of the issues were from visitors that students had coming from the Kansas City area."
Hill said several students were arrested for disturbing the peace and fighting, and some students interviewed were uncooperative and gave little information.
Between then and the shooting Wednesday afternoon, he said, the university had been working to remove students from campus who had caused the fights, who "had other disciplinary issues already."
"In retaliation, from what we found out, some of the students that were removed from school - we're looking at two of them - their friends from Kansas City went over to that area where some of the students were (near The Linc, where students were having a kickball game on the football field) and started shooting," Hill said.
The Linc is LU property that the university's police department is responsible for, he said, but because his officers had already been working for more than 12 hours at that point, the scene was turned over to JCPD and its detectives.
There are suspects in the shooting, and law enforcement is working to get them back to Jefferson City, Hill said.
JCPD's investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is urged to contact the Police Department at 573-634-6400, or CrimeStoppers at 573-659-8477 (659-TIPS) or jeffersoncitycrimestoppers.com.
Hill added that "Right now, we're on lockdown, as far as quiet hours," and no visitation is allowed on the LU campus.