Shooting in Radford
| Published 10/29/04

Graphic by: Doni Neel

On Saturday, Oct. 23, a shooting, which wounded three students, occurred in Radford. The shooting took place in a house owned by the off-campus fraternity Chi Zeta located on Lawrence St. (commonly known as "Lightside"). Minutes after the shooting took place, police apprehended Ronmel Pittman, 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Pittman, who is not a RU student. A few days after the arrest, Pitman was released, and Kerry Wayne McPherson of Blacksburg was taken into custody. Allegedly, McPherson got into an argument, which soon escalated into the shootings. The initial shot ricocheted off the first male RU student, and then struck the other male and female Radford students. The shooting happened at approximately 1:55 a.m.

"I was shocked when I heard of the incident. Radford has become more dangerous lately, but this is ridiculous. It makes you realize that it could be anyone getting hurt, anyone could have been at that party," explained Kate Saul, a junior at RU.

Since it was late in the night, the party was clearing out and only had about 30-40 people still inside. When the fraternity brothers saw the fight escalating, they started getting people out of the party quickly. People still inside tried to break up the fist fight when McPherson allegedly pulled out the gun and fired one shot. McPherson is now being held without bond with the charge of malicious wounding.

"I feel that it is very strange and unusual the shootings happened in Radford. I always felt like I was safe here compared to other schools, and now I'm not sure. I just hope that this doesn't continue happening," commented Mandy DeBoy, a junior at RU.

This is the second shooting this year to occur around the Radford University campus. On May 25, there was a shooting that resulted in the death of 25-year-old Brian Gray. The shooting also wounded his roommate, Forrest Hart. Aamir Brown, 18, and Roy Hodge, 21, are facing charges for this incident including robbery and murder.

Radford is not the only school to be having problems such as this, but it is becoming a serious pattern that needs to be stopped. Police are asking that if you have any information on the shooting, please call Radford Police at (540)731-3627.