Jackson State students grow uneasy with the lack of information regarding shooting investigation
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - As the murder investigation of Jaylen Burns continues, and some details of who’s responsible are still undetermined, students on campus say they feel uneasy with the lack of information being given out.
Three weeks after Jaylen Burns was killed at the University Pointe Apartment Complex on Jackson State University’s campus, students say campus feels different.
“It makes me want to turn my head everywhere I go,” JSU Senior Ethan Goode said.
“The energy has been a lot different. It’s kind of like the life and soul of Jackson State has pretty much been sucked out of it,” JSU Junior Jayden Mack explained.
Students say immediately after the shooting, JSU made pushes to protect students, like checking IDs, but the lack of information since is what’s leaving many unsettled.
“I mean, looking at those two guys who got arrested and they didn’t do it, now it’s looking like, you know, anybody could have done it at this point. And with people not having consistent stories, as well as people not wanting to speak up. It’s it’s very suspicious as to what really happened,” Goode said.
Monday, 3 On Your Side discovered a website where JSU police are supposed to update the public regarding incidents on campus. But as of Monday, that’s not been touched since September 16 and doesn’t include the October shooting.
“One of our students actually brought that up and he said that the person who was in the position to do that had quit or be let go or something and they just haven’t done it since. So they’re just not gonna update,” JSU Senior Jordan Riley said.
In addition to the Crime Log not being up today, the University hasn’t put out Crime Statistics since last year. Sources say those statistics are updated each year on October 2.
Now, students say trusting in one another and in campus security is becoming difficult.
“With the shooters potentially being loose, I would just say that it’s just more of a reason to kind of keep your head on a swivel,” Mack said.
“It feels very unsettling and very unfortunate. Um, I really just hope that campus police and whoever else is involved in helping out with this investigation can do their work diligently,” Riley explained.
Those feelings of not knowing and fear also stem from students not knowing what happened the day of the incident. Email evidence shows that JSU students were not notified of a shooting on campus until 6 hours after the first shot was fired on Sunday night.
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