Details are still sketchy, but the tragic overall picture is clear enough: early this morning several Price George’s County police officers responded to a shooting in College Park, Maryland, and found three young men — all students at the University of Maryland — who had been shot, two of them fatally. According to evidence on scene, one of the three roommates set a small fire in the house’s basement, perhaps to draw his fellow roommates to the basement. All three students left the house together, which is when the gunman began firing. After shooting both men, he went into the house’s backyard and shot himself.
As of yet, none of the students’ names have been released as school officials are still working on notifying the families. Nor have police released any more information about the shooter’s possible motives. We’re certain to hear more about the case in the days to follow, though, in part because of the rarity of roommate murders — much less murder-suicides. (One famous case at Harvard in the 1990s is credited with causing the administration to revamp the way it handles on-campus housing.) More than 70 percent of murder-suicides are between romantic partners. Stay tuned; we’ll let you know more when we hear it.
