‘It was just chaos’: VSU student shares account after 4 people shot on campus

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — It’s Welcome Week for incoming freshman at Virginia State University (VSU) in Chesterfield County, but several of them have said that this isn’t how they expected to begin their college careers.

Incoming VSU freshman Aniya Picnkney said she heard several pops just after midnight on Wednesday, Aug. 14, thinking at first that the noise was coming from a car’s engine.

“It was just chaos pretty much,” she said. “Everyone was running and didn’t really know fully what to do.”

Picnkney said she saw people who had been shot and were lying on the ground. A total of four people, none of whom are VSU students, were shot outside of the Daniel Gymnasium on Boisseau Street. As a result of the shooting, the university was placed on lockdown until 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Twenty-one-year-olds Xavier Gordon and Clyde White were arrested at the scene and have both been charged with brandishing a firearm, Gordon was also charged with carrying a concealed weapons without a permit.

Gordon and White are also not VSU students, officials said it is not yet known whether Gordon or White knew any of the victims. VSU students told 8News on Wednesday that it is normal to see non-students around campus, and that people only need to check in with security if they are entering the university by car, not on foot.

“I had a feeling something bad was going to happen, so I decided to stay inside in my dorm,” said Justina-Gabriella Upshaw, another VSU freshman. “For that to happen during welcome week too, that’s just insane for that to happen.”

This is the third shooting to take place on VSU’s campus in the last year.

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