Adedokun Waliyu 
Gunfire killed two people and wounded another in an apartment at a historically Black university in the southern United States on Thursday, officials said, marking at least the third shooting on the campus since October.
The United States, where firearms are readily available, has a long history of gun violence that kills thousands of people every year. The shooting at South Carolina State University’s Hugine Suites student residential complex was reported around 9:15 pm Thursday (0215 GMT Friday), the college said in a statement.
The university had two shootings on its campus in October, including one at the same student housing complex, ABC News reported, adding that one person was killed and another wounded.
“University officials have not yet confirmed the victims’ identities or the condition of the wounded person,” the university said in a social media post early Friday. “The campus remains on lockdown.”
School officials did not say whether anyone was in custody in connection to the shooting, but they announced that Friday classes were cancelled.
They said local law enforcement agencies were assisting the university “in patrolling on and around the campus.”
The university is in Orangeburg, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of South Carolina’s capital Columbia. It has an enrollment of around 3,000 students.
Thursday’s violence came just days after an 18-year-old shooter killed eight people at a secondary school and a residence in British Columbia, Canada — a rare mass shooting in the country.
A gunman opened fire inside a classroom at Brown University in Rhode Island in December, killing two people and wounding nine others.
There were more than 1,000 gun deaths in the United States in the first month of 2026, according to the non-profit The Gun Violence Archive.
As of February 2, the United States had suffered 28 mass shootings, the organization said, which defines the attacks as at least four people killed or wounded.
