Duquesne left 'saddened and shocked' by shooting
A top Duquesne University basketball recruit remains in critical condition after he and four teammates were shot outside a campus dormitory.
Sam Ashaolu, 23, was being treated at Mercy Hospital, Uptown, after being shot in the head about 2:15 a.m. His parents arrived in Pittsburgh from Toronto yesterday afternoon.
Teammate Stuard Baldonado, 21, who was shot in the elbow and shoulder, was in serious condition at Mercy, a hospital spokesman said. Kojo Mensah, 21, remained hospitalized at UPMC Presbyterian, Oakland. Officials there would not release information on his condition.
Two other players, Aaron Jackson, 20, and Shawn James, 23, were treated at local hospitals and released, university officials said.
One man shot all five after an argument at a dance at the Duquesne student union, police said. Police and university officials did not know what was behind the argument.
Police described the shooter only as a black man, 5 foot 4 inches, wearing a white T-shirt. University officials said he is not believed to be a student.
Duquesne President Charles Dougherty said the university is reviewing its policies about nonstudents attending campus functions.
"We have reason to believe the police know his name and address," Dougherty said. No arrest was made by late last night.
City police are leading the investigation.
Dougherty said about 200 people, including the basketball players, attended the dance sponsored by the Black Student Union. The event, like many at the union, was open to students and nonstudents.
As people were leaving the dance, the shooter followed the victims as they walked through campus, police said. Outside Vickroy Hall dormitory, the man pulled a gun from his waistband and shot at the victims. He then fled toward Forbes Avenue.
Dougherty said several witnesses saw the shooter leave campus.
"We never believed he was on campus after the initial shots," Dougherty said.
Dougherty said police found shell casings from a 9mm pistol at the scene of the shooting.
Dougherty said witnesses reported seeing two guns, but he couldn't confirm if both were fired. The second gun was seen on someone in a group with the shooter; no one in the group was a Duquesne student, Dougherty said.
Between six and 12 shots were fired, Dougherty said, adding he had no idea what sparked the violence.
"What motive can there be for unloading a pistol into a group of students?" he asked.
Dougherty said there's no evidence that the basketball players were aggressors.
"It appears our basketball players were the victims of this -- they had nothing to do with provoking it or instigating hostilities," he said.
Basketball coach Ron Everhart said several other members of the 16-player squad were present when the five were shot. One uninjured player applied a tourniquet to an injured teammate and helped him across the street to Mercy Hospital, the coach said.
Everhart said almost all members of the basketball team attended a crew event and the Duquesne-St. Francis football game on Saturday. The players stayed together that evening.
"They're in shock," Everhart said. "In the same token I was pleased with what I saw in the sense of camaraderie and standing up for teammates and fellow students. There were a lot of people there, not just basketball players. Students at Duquesne came out to help. When things like that happen, I have a great deal of pride to see people's character."
Dougherty called the shooting "unprecedented" and said his first reaction to the news of the shooting was "shock."
Several students who were distraught after witnessing the shootings were being counseled yesterday.
"We are concerned about the psychological impact of this on our students," Dougherty said.
"The entire Duquesne University community is saddened and shocked," he said. "We're shocked because an event of this sort has never happened. It's a safe campus and known to be a safe campus."
The school, a private Catholic university with nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, normally has round-the-clock police protection. Extra campus police officers have been assigned to on-campus residences.
Several police officers and a university cruiser were posted outside Duquesne Towers as students bustled about their normal weekend routines of studying at the library, going to church and enjoying the late summer day.
Students said they were shocked by the violence.
"Duquesne has been in the top echelon of colleges for security," said Nick Cenname, 20, a junior from Swisshelm Park who went to the campus yesterday to study at the Gumberg Library.
Cenname, a history major who doesn't live on campus, said he is sometimes on campus until midnight and always feels safe. He speculated that the shooting may have been an "isolated incident."
Brittany Halladay, 18, a freshman from Cleveland, was taking a walk on campus yesterday with her boyfriend, Mike Szabo, 18, a senior at Strongville High School in Cleveland.
"I was just telling his parents how safe it is here," Halladay said. She said she still believes the campus is safe.
Ashley Good, 18, a sophomore from Baltimore, said she left campus around midnight and was surprised to hear of the shootings when she returned yesterday morning.
"I know Duquesne to be a safe campus," Good said.
Good said she called her parents to tell them of the shooting, and "they told me to be safe."
Matt Tripodi, 18, of Rochester, N.Y., a business and accounting major at Duquesne, said the shooting could spoil the university's reputation as a safe place.
"It (was) the safest campus, and now it's not," he said, though he added he wasn't worried about his safety.
A women's soccer game with Niagara scheduled for yesterday afternoon at Rooney Field was postponed. The Duquesne players and some fans were at the on-campus field when the decision was made. The Niagara players, who arrived in town on Thursday and played Robert Morris yesterday, stayed at their hotel.
"We were already at the field and they told us it was canceled," said Suzanne Giangreco, whose daughter, Jamie, is a sophomore goalkeeper for Niagara. "I don't know who made the decision, if it was a mutual decision or not. The kids understood, but they were pretty disappointed think it was just a precautionary measure. There were a lot of police visible. They were everywhere. They were on the field. I felt safe. But it's better safe than sorry.
The shootings follow one of the most productive off-seasons in recent memory for Duquesne's long-struggling basketball program. First-year athletic director Greg Amodio hired Everhart, who attracted the deepest recruiting class of any school in the nation, with 12 newcomers. The Dukes, coming off an all-time worst 3-24 season, were ranked with the No. 25th best incoming class by Hoopscoop.com.
James, expected to be Duquesne's top player and an NBA prospect when he becomes eligible in the 2007-08 season, was shot in the foot, but no bones were broken. Mensah was believed to have been shot in the shoulder. Jackson was shot in the hand.
According to The Toronto Star, Ashaolu attended two high schools in Toronto -- Nelson A. Boylen Collegiate and York Memorial Collegiate. He then went on to Trinity Valley College in Athens, Texas.
Ashaolu is one of three boys in his family. His younger brother, Olu, played for Canada's junior national basketball team.
Wayne Dawkins, Ashaolu's coach at York Memorial, described him as a clean-cut kid who never got into trouble.
Everhart and Amodio said they has not considered the ramifications of the incident on the school's basketball program because they are concentrating on their players' health.
"It makes you understand that it's just a game," Everhart said.
More than 400 people attended a weekly Mass last night at the Old Main Chapel on campus, where members of the basketball team were escorted to the front rows.
The Rev. Timothy Hickey, executive director of Spiritan Mission and Identity, acknowledged their shock and sadness at the shooting.
"We first and foremost offer our prayers for their recovery," he said. "Our prayers are with them and their families. Their healing is our utmost concern."
"We're a tight-knit community, he said. "What affects one of us affects all of us. We are doing everything to ensure that you are safe."
Shooting victims
Sam Ashaolu , 23
Injuries: Shot in head; hospitalized.
Stats: 6 foot 7, 225 pounds, junior from Toronto, Canada,
Notable: Cousin of former NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon.
Stuard Baldonado, 21
Injuries: Shot in elbow and shoulder; hospitalized.
Stats: 6 foot 7, 250 pounds, junior from San Andres, Colombia, South America.
Notable: Regarded as one of the top 40 junior college players in the nation.
Aaron Jackson, 20
Injuries: Shot in hand; treated and released.
Stats: 6 foot 2, 180 pounds, sophomore from Hartford, Conn.
Notable: One of the two holdovers from last year, when he averaged 6.8 points and 3.6 assists per game.
Shawn James, 23
Injuries: Shot in foot; treated and released.
Stats: 6 foot 10 sophomore from Brooklyn, N.Y., born in the West Indies.
Notable: Nation's leading shot blocker last year while playing at Northeastern in Boston. Ineligible to play this season.
Kojo Mensah, 21
Injuries: Unclear; hospitalized
Stats: 6 foot 1, 180 pounds, junior from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Notable: Paying his own way this academic year because Siena University, near Albany, N.Y., refused to release him from his scholarship. Mensah can't play until next year. He and James were teammates on a Junior AAU squad.
Campus shootings
Sept. 14: One woman was killed and 19 other people wounded when a gunman shot randomly outside Dawson College in Montreal. Police killed the gunman.
May 9, 2003: A Cleveland man shot and killed one student and wounded two others during a seven-hour standoff at Case Western Reserve University. The man was taken into custody after police shot him in the shoulder.
Oct. 28, 2002: A student flunking the University of Arizona's nursing school shot and killed three professors and then killed himself.
Oct. 21, 2002: A commerce student at Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia, killed two students and wounded several others.
Jan. 18, 2002: A man shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and then killed himself at Broward Community College, near Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Jan. 16, 2002: Disgruntled student Peter Odighizuwa shot and killed a dean, professor and student at the Appalachian School of Law, in Grundy, Va.
Sept. 17, 1996: A female sniper killed one student and wounded another at Penn State University on the lawn of the Hetzel Union Building. An Altoona woman died.
Dec. 14, 1992: Wayne Lo, then a 19-year-old student at Simon's Rock College of Bard, in Great Barrington, Mass., killed two people and wounded four others on campus. Lo was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Aug. 1, 1966: After killing his mother and wife, Charles Whitman climbed a 27-story tower on the University of Texas campus, killing 15 other people and wounding 31 before Austin Police shot and killed him.
-- Tribune-Review research
Staff writers Brian Rittmeyer and John Grupp and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Additional Information:
Tip line
Pittsburgh homicide detectives asked anyone with information about the Duquesne University shooting to call their office at (412) 323-7161.
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