Trojans back to practice after campus shooting
LOS ANGELES — It was an overcast morning as USC returned to the practice field on Thursday. It was symbolic of the day as the Trojans were in their normal confines of Howard Jones Field, however, on this day just 50 yards away from where police officers manned a corner on campus.
Security was heightened following a shooting at an on campus Halloween party on Wednesday night.
USC coach Lane Kiffin said from what he knows, none of his players were among the reported 400 in attendance at the party.
There were four shooting victims, one of which was former Crenshaw High School star and Los Angeles City Section Player of the Year Geno Hall. He was left in critical condition after seven gunshot wounds and undergoing emergency surgery.
Hall is reported to be in critical but stable condition, with his father telling the Los Angeles Times that his son will “pull through.”
Hall is a former teammate of current Trojans Marcus Martin and Hayes Pullard. They were a part of the historical 2009 Crenshaw team that became the first team from the City Section to make it to a State Bowl game.
Also on that team was De’Anthony Thomas, who will be playing his first collegiate game in Los Angeles when Oregon visits the Coliseum on Saturday.
Kiffin said he hadn’t yet spoken to his team about the shooting nor had he spoken to Martin or Pullard about their former teammate.
Neither Martin or Pullard were available for comment.
Pullard retweeted a tweet last night featuring Hall’s Twitter handle that read: “Everyone please pray for @Iam_Geno.”
“I really don’t have enough facts on the situation to make any other comments about it,” Kiffin said. “I think they’re still gathering all the information so I can’t really talk anymore about it just because of lack of information.”
The party was thrown in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center by the school’s Black Student Alliance, according to reports. However that point is disputed by a member of USC’s Black Student Alliance, saying the party was not thrown by the Black Student Alliance or any other campus affiliated organization. USC officials did, however, give the promotion group hosting the party clearance to host a party on campus, that person said.
Hall continued his football career at West Los Angeles College and was close to transferring to NCAA Division II Southern Arkansas to continue playing football, according to a source.
The USC community is just months removed from the fatal shooting of two foreign exchange students near campus in April.
USC president Max Nikias addressed the situation in a letter to faculty, staff, and students on Thursday.
“We are now carefully assessing and reviewing all of the university’s policies regarding visitors and events held on campus,” Nikias wrote.
He urged the USC community to remember to look out for themselves and to be “particularly vigilant about the personal safety of friends and guests at our social events. All of us have been shaken by serious incidents this year.
“Despite these events, or indeed because of them, we must continue to support each other as members of the Trojan Family.”
Kiffin says he will continue to investigate the matter as it relates to his team.