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Memphis' campus closed after lineman shot to death
ESPN.com news services
Updated: October 1, 2007, 11:23 AM ET
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A University of Memphis football player was fatally shot on campus in what was believed to be a targeted attack, and classes were canceled Monday as a precaution, officials said.
Taylor Bradford, 21, was shot near a university housing complex about 9:45 p.m. Sunday and then got into a car, driving a short distance before it crashed into a tree, officials said.
University officials said they believed the gunman left campus immediately after the shooting. No arrests had been made Monday.
"We found him with a bullet wound to the body and the ambulance took him to the hospital where he was pronounced [dead]," said Roger Prewitt, a Memphis Police inspector.
Bradford, a 5-foot-11, 300-pound defensive lineman from Nashville, was a junior who transferred to Memphis after two seasons at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.
"Our entire football team is deeply saddened by the loss of Taylor," head coach Tommy West said in a statement. "He was well respected and a popular member of our team. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family."
University officials closed residence halls on campus temporarily after the shooting before police learned that the shooting was likely personal, spokesman Curt Gunther said.
In an e-mail alert sent to faculty, staff and students at 3:40 a.m. Monday, officials wrote that "the initial investigation indicates this was an act directed specifically toward the victim and was not a random act of violence."
The university decided to cancel classes Monday, although police believe the person or persons involved in the shooting left the campus immediately.
"We feel like the campus is safe, but we'd rather err on the safety than not," Gunther said.
The school's administrative and athletic officials were meeting Monday morning to discuss the shooting.
"I certainly understand [the decision] in the wake of Virginia Tech and how that was scrutinized," David Dunlap Jr., a 37-year-old law student, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I think the administration is going to error on the side of caution given that criticism."
The massacre at Virginia Tech occurred April 16, when a lone student gunman killed 32 people and injured dozens before committing suicide in what was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
The Tigers host Marshall on Tuesday night on ESPN2. A moment of silence was planned before the game.
Bradford transfered to the school in 2006 and is on the roster this season, but has not made any plays to be listed in the team's statistics.
Bradford lettered in three sports at Antioch High School, and holds school records in the shotput and discus.
The university had 20,562 students enrolled for last fall, according to its Web site.
The school was founded in 1912 as West Tennessee State Normal School and was renamed Memphis State College in 1941. It became Memphis State University in 1957, two years before it admitted its first black students. It was renamed the University of Memphis in 1994.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
ESPN.com news services
Updated: October 1, 2007, 11:23 AM ET
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A University of Memphis football player was fatally shot on campus in what was believed to be a targeted attack, and classes were canceled Monday as a precaution, officials said.
Taylor Bradford, 21, was shot near a university housing complex about 9:45 p.m. Sunday and then got into a car, driving a short distance before it crashed into a tree, officials said.
University officials said they believed the gunman left campus immediately after the shooting. No arrests had been made Monday.
"We found him with a bullet wound to the body and the ambulance took him to the hospital where he was pronounced [dead]," said Roger Prewitt, a Memphis Police inspector.
Bradford, a 5-foot-11, 300-pound defensive lineman from Nashville, was a junior who transferred to Memphis after two seasons at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.
"Our entire football team is deeply saddened by the loss of Taylor," head coach Tommy West said in a statement. "He was well respected and a popular member of our team. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family."
University officials closed residence halls on campus temporarily after the shooting before police learned that the shooting was likely personal, spokesman Curt Gunther said.
In an e-mail alert sent to faculty, staff and students at 3:40 a.m. Monday, officials wrote that "the initial investigation indicates this was an act directed specifically toward the victim and was not a random act of violence."
The university decided to cancel classes Monday, although police believe the person or persons involved in the shooting left the campus immediately.
"We feel like the campus is safe, but we'd rather err on the safety than not," Gunther said.
The school's administrative and athletic officials were meeting Monday morning to discuss the shooting.
"I certainly understand [the decision] in the wake of Virginia Tech and how that was scrutinized," David Dunlap Jr., a 37-year-old law student, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I think the administration is going to error on the side of caution given that criticism."
The massacre at Virginia Tech occurred April 16, when a lone student gunman killed 32 people and injured dozens before committing suicide in what was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
The Tigers host Marshall on Tuesday night on ESPN2. A moment of silence was planned before the game.
Bradford transfered to the school in 2006 and is on the roster this season, but has not made any plays to be listed in the team's statistics.
Bradford lettered in three sports at Antioch High School, and holds school records in the shotput and discus.
The university had 20,562 students enrolled for last fall, according to its Web site.
The school was founded in 1912 as West Tennessee State Normal School and was renamed Memphis State College in 1941. It became Memphis State University in 1957, two years before it admitted its first black students. It was renamed the University of Memphis in 1994.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
