Gunshots were fired at 1:45 a.m. last night near Adams Winship apartments.
Several students reported the incident to Mercer police, but did not receive an answer from campus police regarding the nature of the disturbance.
Sophomore Justin Bloodworth said he heard somewhere from six to eight gunshots total from his room in Shorter Hall. He heard faint sirens afterwards, and listened to his police scanner to learn more.
“It was difficult to make out what they were saying,” Bloodworth said. “But I definitely heard ‘surveying Mercer University drive,’ then ‘spotted now on North Ave. near the Kroger.’”
There was no report from campus police clarifying what students had heard, which left room for speculation.
Senior Vice President for Marketing Communications Larry Brumley said in an email that, according to Police Chief Gary Collins, “No alert was sent out, per protocol, because officers on duty determined that there was not a threat to campus.”
“The security guards on duty in Mercer Village and at the bridge by the Winship Apartments determined the shots were being fired off campus. MerPo called the Macon-Bibb Sheriff’s Office to make them aware of the reports of shots fired,” he said.
Sophomore Marcus Strickland heard the gunshots while talking with a friend inside an Adams Winship apartment.
“I called to report the incident to Merpo at 1:50 a.m. however, when I called no one answered,” Strickland said. “I walked back to my building around 2:30 a.m. and… I noticed that I didn’t see any Merpo officers or Merpo vehicles on campus at all.”
Brumley offered an explanation for the lack of Merpo response.
“It may be that the dispatcher was on the phone with another caller when they tried to call,” Larry Brumley said.
According to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, the shots fired were on the opposite side of Mercer and were not near the school campus. A report was not generated for the incident, though deputies did patrol the area.
Editor’s note: This article was updated at 9 p.m. April 21 to include information from the Sheriff’s office.
Multiple gunshots fired near campus late last night
Mercer Police is located on the edge of campus on Winship Street. Archived photo by Jenna Eason
