Del. school shooting suspect charged in court

Rivalry may have led to shooting
The shootings followed a fight Tuesday between Braden and one of the victims in a university parking lot, according to an affidavit by Lt. Donald Baynard of the Delaware State University police department. The heavily redacted document said the victim involved was male, but did not say whether he was Pugh or Richmond.

The person involved in the fight received a small cut under his lip, and he spit saliva and blood on Braden’s face, the affidavit said. The dispute boiled over again Thursday night when the two ran into each other at the Village Cafe, but that argument was defused and both left, the affidavit said.

Some students have said the shootings stemmed from a rivalry between students from Washington, D.C., and New Jersey, although university police have said the investigation has not led them to believe there was a “turf battle.” Others have said a dispute followed a card game.

Dover police spokesman Capt. Lester Boney referred questions to university officials.

DSU president Allen Sessoms indicated that Braden’s arrest does not mark the end of the investigation.

“Something happened here that we’ve got to get our arms around,” Sessoms said.

Family puzzled by incident
The family member at Braden’s New Jersey home said Braden’s mother went to Delaware to get more information on the charges. “The whole thing is just not his M.O.,” the man said. “It’s really puzzling to us.”

Braden graduated in June from Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair, N.J., where he played basketball and football. “This would be the last thing I’d ever expect of Loyer,” football coach Sean Morris said.

In 1998, Braden was among a group of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts who escorted jazz great Lionel Hampton to an East Orange elementary school that had named a concert hall in Hampton’s name, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark.

Classes on the Dover campus of about 3,690 students were canceled Friday following the early morning shooting. They resumed Monday, Holmes said. Campus police Chief James Overton has said investigators believe the shooter was a Delaware State student.

Mindful of the Virginia Tech massacre in which 32 people were killed in April, Delaware State administrators ordered a swift shutdown of the campus after the shooting. They directed students to stay in their dorms, posted notices on buildings and the school Web site, and lowered gates while police searched for the gunman.

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