CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — It’s Welcome Week for incoming freshman at Virginia State University (VSU) in Chesterfield County, but several of them have said that this isn’t how they expected to begin their college careers.
Incoming VSU freshman Aniya Picnkney said she heard several pops just after midnight on Wednesday, Aug. 14, thinking at first that the noise was coming from a car’s engine.
“It was just chaos pretty much,” she said. “Everyone was running and didn’t really know fully what to do.”
Previous Coverage| Four people shot on Virginia State University’s campus
Picnkney said she saw people who had been shot and were lying on the ground. A total of four people, none of whom are VSU students, were shot outside of the Daniel Gymnasium on Boisseau Street. As a result of the shooting, the university was placed on lockdown until 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Twenty-one-year-olds Xavier Gordon and Clyde White were arrested at the scene and have both been charged with brandishing a firearm, Gordon was also charged with carrying a concealed weapons without a permit.