Image Credits: Lincoln University
On Saturday night, Oct. 25, a shooting occurred at Lincoln University — recognized as the first college-degree-granting Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the country — located 30 minutes from West Chester University near Oxford, PA. The shooting occurred during the university’s homecoming weekend celebratory tailgate after their football game with Elizabeth State University near the International Cultural Center, leaving one dead and six injured. According to Chris de Barrena-Sarobe, Chester County’s District Attorney, one person injured is a current Lincoln University student, another was an alum and the other four have no direct affiliation with the university, but no names were released. Also according to de Barrena-Sarobe, there is reason to believe that there were multiple shooters, and that the shooting occurred spontaneously and was not planned to be a “mass casualty event.”
The name of the deceased victim has been released, identified as 20-year-old Jujaun Jeffers from Wilmington, Delaware. Little information on Jeffers has been released, such as his connection to the university, with all that has been released being that he died shortly after midnight after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head. It is also expected that all of those injured in the shooting will survive, though updates on individual conditions will not be released, according to de Barrena-Sarobe. Another name released after this event is the name of one of the suspects, who is currently being held in Chester County Prison.
Identified as 21-year-old Zecqueous Morgan-Thompson, he has been charged with carrying a concealed firearm without a license. According to Morgan-Thompson in a criminal complaint, the firearm belonged to his mother, and he had it on him the entire time since entering the university at 4 p.m.. Morgan-Thompson’s bail was originally placed at $25,000, but was increased to $1 million after a ballistics match was made between the Glock model 28 .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol in Morgan-Thompson’s possession and a .380 caliber shell casing found at the crime scene. What cannot be confirmed, according to de Barrena-Sarobe, is if the casing struck anybody, and is further complicated due to multiple different casings found at the crime scene.
This year’s incident has since been logged on Gun Violence Archive’s “mass shootings in 2025” list, which has recorded 356 mass shootings around the United States since the beginning of the year. It has also been logged as the 18th mass shooting in Pennsylvania in 2025. However, this is not the first instance of gun violence on Lincoln University’s campus, as in April 2023, two women were shot in the university’s LLC Building during the annual Spring Fling event. Both women survived the incident, with injuries being minimal.
Different responses have arisen since news about this year’s incident came out, such as what could have caused this event to happen. On a Facebook post by the Philadelphia Inquirer about Morgan-Thompson being arrested, one comment stated, “… The problem is there is not enough security and police presence to direct traffic and control crowds. The kids/visitors park all over the streets. It’s a big problem, but the university ignores it.” Another comment on the same post, who also discussed how crime happens on “almost every college campus in the US” and to not solely target Lincoln University, mentioned, “Do they need better security[,] most certainly.”
With this incident, and this not being the first time an incident like this has occurred on Lincoln University’s campus, a petition on Change.org has been created, demanding stronger safety measures for the campus. In the petition’s description, it states that the shooting is a “part of a disturbing pattern of violence at HBCU homecomings nationwide,” also echoing concerns regarding security measures during campus events. Other concerns listed included tailgates “lacking sufficient screening, crowd control and off-campus coordination,” also claiming that law enforcement fell short regarding Pennsylvania’s ban on firearms at university events.
Demands on the petition, which requested 500 signatures, include the following:
- requiring a signed Memorandum of Understanding for future event security.
- ordinances with pre-approved safety plans for events.
- requiring all university homecoming events to be classified as special security events that require oversight, patrolling and weapon detection systems,
- a safety audit on the university’s security protocols and mandating compliance with further safety measures or face administrative sanctions,
- immediate reforms such as metal detectors and clear bag policies,
- contacting the university and state officials to demand accountability.
Jack Snock is a fourth-year Political Science major with a Journalism minor. AS993182@wcupa.edu.