Killing leaves LR college stunned

Campus mourns football player shot dead changing tire for friend

Derek Olivier, the Arkansas Baptist College football player shot and killed just yards from the Little Rock campus Thursday night, would have turned 20 years old today.

Suffering gunshot wounds, Olivier, a freshman cornerback, was found lying on the sidewalk on the northern edge of the small college campus at 1621 Martin LutherKing Drive, police spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said.

Courtney Henry, 21, another student and fellow Buffalo football player, was grazed by one of several shots fired by a man who continued to shoot as he fled from the intersection at 16th and Bishop streets where Henry and Olivier were helping a friend change a tire.

Declining to identify the students involved, Arkansas Baptist College PresidentFitzgerald “Fitz” Hill called Olivier’s shooting “senseless” and said Friday that Olivier’s death will be “very trying” for students, staff and the surrounding neighborhood.

According to police reports, Olivier, Henry and others were trying to change a tire on a friend’s car, which was parked on the street next to the campus, when they were approached by a man about 7:19 p.m. and shots began flying.

When the gunfire started, Henry stayed close to the ground and was grazed by a round while others ran from the car toward campus.

Olivier was hit multiple times, reports stated. He was taken to UAMS Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just after 8 p.m.

About 12 hours after Olivier died, classes at the school were “optional,” Hill said,but there was a steady flow of students through the campus Friday.

Marcus Jackson, a thirdyear student from El Dorado, talked with fellow students just outside the 16th Street Dormitory, the spot where Olivier fell and was treated by paramedics the night before.

Jackson said he was waiting for a shuttle half a block down the street Thursday night when he heard at least six gunshots.

He said he froze when he heard the shots and watched the gunman run southwest, cutting through the edge of campus, a weapon in hand.

“It was a lot of people, one big commotion,” Jackson said. “He was lying right there.”

Jackson was among many complaining that campus security was partially to blame for the shooting.

According to Jackson, the small campus security detail lacks the visibility enjoyed by other campuses in Little Rock.

Freshman Mark Jones agreed that campus security lacks presence, but he doesn’t hold the shooting against the school.

“It ain’t the school, it’s a good school, it’s the area around here,” Jones said. “We’re in the heart of the ’hood here.”

Hill said that the school’s security officers, who are licensed to carry firearms, followed the school’s policy and that within minutes of the shooting, e-mails were sent out to all students notifying them that a shooting had occurred near campus.

But Hill, who has presided over the school and its 1,072 students for six years, wasted no time expressing what he thinks is the heart of the matter.

“This is not an individual case, this goes on all throughout the country,” he said. “I think everybody knows the situation of this community and what we’re trying to do as an institution. Let’s just face it, let’s be very honest. Black-on-black violence is a problem that must be addressed and must be addressed within the community itself.

“We know that it was another black person that shot a black student. That’s a problem. Paint it any color you want to, that’s real. I will not run from the truth. ... I will not let this student’s death be in vain without addressing this problem.”

Since taking over in 2006, Hill has steered the schooltoward buying dilapidated properties in the surrounding neighborhood and encouraging empowerment and local businesses to thrive.

According to him, empowerment and growth are the only long-term solutions tothe drug and gang activities that thrive on the borders of his campus every day.

“We’re working very diligently to remove all the blight. Who wants to open up a business where there’s blight?” he asked. “You create safer communities when you create ... economic empowerment, but it’s hard to move in businesses when you have black-on-black crime that’s rampant in the community.”

Hill said crime has dropped significantly around the campus since he took over in 2006, though detailed Police Department statistics were not available Friday afternoon.

According to self-reported data on the U.S. Department of Education website, burglaries on campus dropped from 18 to 15 between 2009 and 2010. There were two forcible rapes in both of those years and an aggravated assault in 2009. No data for 2011 or 2012 were available.

Hill said the death of Olivier hurt some of the progress that his campus had been making.

“You’ve got to be real with the facts of the situation. Anytime that you’re trying to do something to empower young people and you lose a life, that’s a blow,” Hill said. “But here’s what I can tell you: As president of Arkansas Baptist College, I’m not going to run. In fact, I’m getting ready to dig in.”

Richard Wilson, the Buffaloes football coach, said that today, Olivier’s birthday, would have been thered-shirt freshman’s first trip with the traveling team as the team takes on Chattahoochie Technical College in Marietta, Ga.

The veteran coach said that the circumstances surrounding his cornerback’s death - helping a friend change a tire - speaks volumes about who Olivier was.

His teammates “keep saying he was as good as gold,” Wilson said. “He’s one of the best, and they’re having trouble understanding [his death].”

Wilson talked to the players Thursday night, when word went out that their teammate had been killed. He commended them for being “troopers,” but that the reality of Olivier’s death may not have completely set in.

He then told them that if they wanted to skip the trip to Georgia, they should.

“We’re not trying to be what the SEC is. ... We’re trying to have a ministry that helps young men have a chance to play football,” Wilson said. “We are just trying to help them become men and I told them, ‘This ain’t about a football game.’”

On Friday, the team loaded up and headed off to Georgia.

“They wanted to play for him,” Wilson said.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/29/2012

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