The University of Illinois - Champaign is one of the campuses that has recently been shaken by a shooting. One man fatally died of his wounds.
USA Today College reported that students and faculty were alerted when gunfire was heard on Sep. 25 on the 300 block of East Green Street in Champaign, Ill. The message warned the community to stay in their homes while those who were at the local campus bars were kept inside until it was safe to go out.
The Community Safety Notice emailed by the Division Public Safety revealed that four people were shot. Another person was hit by a car after trying to escape. One person, George Korchev of Mundelein, Ill., 22, died of the wounds from a fatal shot. He was visiting his friends over the weekend and would have started his work as a nurse in Libertyville.
The police charged Robbie M. Patton, 18, with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. Two weeks before the incident, he was released from a boot camp which helped him avoid prison on a gun charge conviction last December.
The UIUC community mourned with a vigil in the aftermath of the shooting. Some were still shaken at how an act of violence could be done in a popular area of town.
According to the News-Gazette, State's Attorney Julia Rietz revealed that the shooting was all because of "a spilled drink." Apparently, they were attending a party in an apartment at 306 1/2 E. Green St. about 12:30 a.m.
"During the party inside, a girl spills a drink on another girl," Rietz said. "his leads to a disagreement that spills out into the parking lot."
Patton was said to have intended to fire at the men who were kicking his friend. However, the victims who got hit were not involved in the beating.
This is not the first time that a shooting near campus has happened. It was previously reported that two students were killed at a house party near North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
