On the school’s Facebook page, worried parents posted prayers and frustrations, despondent that the students’ first weekend was marred by violence.
“This is sad. I was just on campus yesterday with my son,” one woman wrote.
“We just dropped our daughter off hours before this happened,” wrote another. “There needs to be heightened security for the campus. Period.”
One alumnus wrote that he and his wife had visited campus for a “stroll down ‘beautiful memories lane’”.
“When these type of events happen it’s terrifying to know that students, faculty, and visitors cannot enjoy the same level of peace that we had while we were there,” he added. “Prayers for the VSU community, immediate and extended.”
About 5700 students attend Virginia State, a historically black college and university a 30-minute drive from Richmond.
The school has endured several incidents of gun violence on or near its campus in recent years. In 2024, it locked down at least three times because of gunfire that left five people, including a teenager, injured. In 2025, someone was shot in the leg near a campus basketball court, and a man was killed in a parking lot close to the school.
Virginia State also locked down and cancelled classes in September last year because it and several other HBCUs across the country received violent threats.
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