Students Weren't Alerted About Belmont Drive-By For Nearly An Hour

NASHVILLE, TN — A car full of Belmont students was struck by gunfire in an apparent drive-by Tuesday night.

The students said someone in a white sedan fired at them on 15th Avenue South between Wedgewood and Acklen and then raced toward 12th Avenue South around 8:30 p.m. Belmont students, however, were not sent a campus-wide text and e-mail alert about the incident until 9:30 p.m., the Belmont Vision reports.

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No one was injured in the shooting. The students were returning from an off-campus event with a university staff member and riding in a rented SUV, thus it is not believe they were targeted specifically, Belmont president Bob Fisher wrote in an email sent to parents Wednesday.

Student Shannon Ogden told the Vision she heard the shots while in a classroom building near the incident.

“Our professor turned the lights off and we all got still because they were very obviously gunshots, and they were obviously very close,” Ogden said. “Our professor kept asking, ‘Is anyone getting a Belmont alert, is anyone getting any updates?’

“We didn’t.”

In the alert, Belmont campus security there was no on-going threat to campus after the shooting.

"Campus Security alerted the Belmont community as quickly as possible of what had occurred and followed up shortly as additional details were discovered," Fisher wrote Tuesday.

Patrols around campus were ramped up Tuesday night and increased patrols from campus security and Metro Police will continue, according to Fisher's email.

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