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Stray Bullet Kills Spelman Student Walking Atlanta Campus

by DORIE TURNER, Associated Press Writer , September 4, 2009

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ATLANTA

One of the nation's largest historically Black academic centers mourned the death Thursday of a 19-year old student hit by a stray bullet as she walked on campus with friends just after midnight.

 

Police said Jasmine Lynn of Kansas City, Mo., was struck in the chest when at least six shots were fired during a fight at Clark Atlanta University, one of four adjoining campuses that together make up the Atlanta University Center. Lynn was a student at one of the schools, Spelman College.

Jerome Jones, a Clark Atlanta student who was with Lynn, was hit by a bullet on the wrist and was treated at a hospital and released, police said.

“One of the friends actually heard the gunshots, actually saw the weapon and told her to get on the ground,” Atlanta Police Lt. Keith Meadows said. “As she was getting on the ground, she got shot in the chest.”

Meadows said Lynn was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she died.

College officials and police are unsure whether students from Clark Atlanta, Spelman or neighboring Morehouse College were involved in the fight that lead to the shooting. Morehouse College of Medicine is the fourth school in the complex.

Police were questioning witnesses and talking with a “person of interest” Meadows said. For now, police are looking for one suspect, though investigators have not ruled out the possibility of more than that, Meadows said.

Police said security cameras probably captured the gunfire but that they do not yet have a clear description of the shooter.

Hours after the crime scene tape was cleared from the street outside several Clark Atlanta dorms, students hurried across the campus complex in a morning rain.

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