CLEVELAND, Miss. — Somehow scooping grains and pouring them into a bag to help feed needy children never felt so good.
“Get my mind right. Make me feel a little bit normal,” said Whitney Carter.
Normal was how dozens of Delta State University students and faculty want to feel after their world was flipped upside down on Monday.
“It was kind of scary. I got nervous and it was just a real rough day — a long day,” Carter said.
Carter said she hid in classrooms as law enforcement scoured the campus looking for Shannon Lamb, the man who opened fire, killing Dr. Ethan Schmidt.
“We started just like shutting down the blinds, we closed the door, and we all moved to a corner of the building to where if somebody came in they couldn’t see us in the room,” she said.
Police said Lamb killed Dr. Ethan Schmidt on campus and 41-year-old Amy Prentiss in a home they shared on the Gulf Coast.
All of this before Lamb turned the gun on himself late Monday night.
“It was just one of those situations where it should’ve never happened,” said Carter.
Police in Cleveland told WREG they still don’t have a motive in this case.
Students said this has only brought them closer together.
“I would rather be doing something that shows that this isn’t going to like just bring us down. It’s going to make us stronger,” said Carter.
It’s that strength that’s keeping this community together after a tragedy that could have torn them apart.
“We know that it happened and we’re going to try to move on from it and make sure his memory isn’t lost here,” said Carter.
