GhLinks Media
Dover police have confirmed the identity of the 18-year-old woman who was fatally shot on the campus of Delaware State University early Sunday morning.
Camay Mitchell DeSilva, a resident of Wilmington, was taken to Bayhealth Kent Campus after the incident, but unfortunately, she did not survive.
Although she was not a student at DSU, she was visiting a student at the time of the shooting.
The news of the shooting slowly spread throughout the day on Sunday.
The school community was first alerted about the incident, followed by a message from James Overton, who holds the positions of DSU’s police superintendent and vice president of student affairs.
The message was sent out just before 8 a.m. and stated that the DSU police received an initial phone call regarding the shooting at 1:40 a.m.
The incident took place outside the north end of an underpass near Warren Franklin Residential Hall.
When officers arrived, they found DeSilva unconscious.
A preliminary investigation conducted in tandem with Dover police indicated that DeSilva and “possibly another non-student female” were visiting a student on campus, the message said.
Following the incident, the suspect(s) ran toward College Road, according to DSU. Police have not provided a description.
A Dover Police Department news release published just after noon on Sunday gave few additional details, adding only that no one else was injured.
DeSilva was identified Monday morning.
As news of the shooting became public, parents took to social media to share photos of their children who attend the university, assuring friends and family that their kids were safe.
“Thank God,” some comments said, while others expressed shock and dismay.
One woman wrote that her daughter was friends with DeSilva and was “really taking it hard.”
Sunday evening, DSU President Tony Allen issued a statement calling the shooting “tragic.”
“First, let me say that whoever believes that settling disagreements of any kind should be met with physical violence − including the threat of and eventual use of firearms − is simply not welcomed here,” the statement began.
