Local campus shooting dismissed as isolated incident

Four suspects were arrested Friday, Aug. 14, in connection with the shooting last week on the campus of Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas, which resulted in the death of one student and injury of another. The incident occurred in the parking lot of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus Community Center around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

The fatal shooting victim was identified as SAU engineering student Joshua Keshun Smith from Sparkman, Arkansas. The other student who was shot and wounded was taken by ambulance to the Magnolia Regional Medical Center and is said to be stable.

Police reports say three students who live off-campus came onto campus and met individuals not believed to be associated with the institution in the parking lot. After a brief encounter, shots were fired.

Odies Wilson of North Little Rock, Arkansas; Le’Kamerin (Kam) Tolbert of Little Rock, Arkansas; Quincy Isaiah Lewis of Little Rock, Arkansas; and Shaivonn (Shakey) Robinson of Vacherie, Louisiana, were arrested early Friday evening, Aug. 14, and charged with capital murder for the shooting death of Smith. Tolbert and Robinson are on the Muleriders football team. Wilson was on the team last year.

The four suspects are currently being held awaiting arraignment Monday at 3 p.m. Additional charges may be filed. The investigation is ongoing.

Several local families have students at the college – both living on campus and in apartments off campus – and were awakened early Tuesday by their calls and texts to say they were okay. Many parents expressed concern that they had not yet heard anything about the shooting before then.

“Becca texted me at 6:30 a.m. while I was on the way to work,” said Tina Durmon Rapp, a teacher at Atlanta Elementary School. “When I got to school, I googled and found information about it. Then at 8:43 a.m., I received a mass email from SAU. It’s scary when your daughter tells you there was a shooting and one student is dead.”

While Rapp feels relieved that her daughter, Becca Thomas, was sound asleep during the event and had no idea it even happened, she said “it’s a little concerning that students found out on Facebook hours later. I have mixed feelings about that.”

Thomas, a 2017 graduate of Atlanta High School and current senior at SAU, knew the victim. She said when she woke up Tuesday, she saw information about the shooting on Facebook when a sorority sister messaged her about it.

“We were all freaked out when we saw it – technically the school hadn’t yet told us anything. We had no idea if the shooter had been caught,” Thomas stated.

The university does have a RAVE emergency alert mass text system – just like many other colleges. However, no text was sent.

According to Donna Allen, Ed.D., SAU Vice President for Student Affairs, the shooting was an isolated event among people who planned to be together in the Reynolds parking lot on campus.

She stressed that it was not a random act, and upon arrival of the police, it was quickly assessed that there was not an immediate danger to other members of the campus community.

“The University believes it would have created more of a panic had it initiated a RAVE alert when it wasn’t necessary. The vast majority of the campus residents were sleeping in their residence halls while over half were asleep at their homes and at off-campus locations. Had we sent out a RAVE we would have had many trying to see what was going on when the situation was already over,” Allen explained.

“We do understand their concerns but the University Police had knowledge that the students did not have. SAU and the University Police take the safety of our students very seriously and at any time had the University Police believed the students were in danger there would have been a RAVE alert initiated.”

The small campus, only 70 miles from Atlanta, is situated on 1,491 acres in Magnolia, Arkansas. The average enrollment is 4,700 students. Of those students, 76% are Arkansas residents and 16% are Texas residents.

“We lived in the same dorm Freshman year and had some classes together. We were also in Leadership Camp together,” Thomas stated. “He was very smart; a good kid, very sociable.”

In a press release issued Saturday, August 15, SAU President Trey Berry said, “We are grateful for the great work of the SAU Police Department, the Magnolia Police Department, Columbia County Sheriff ’s Department, the Arkansas State Police, and U. S. Marshalls. Their persistence on this case brings a grieving family one step closer to resolve and allows our community to rest easier knowing that the suspects in this case have been identified.”

Although the campus is reeling in the wake of the shooting death of one of their own, Thomas said she does not have any greater concerns about her safety.

“I actually do feel safe; I’ve never not felt safe here. There are many resources – counselors and programs – to help us work through things,” Thomas said. “There’s always just a few bad people who don’t follow the rules.”