A former Morgan State University student that was shot in 2012 was awarded $900,000 after the student argued in court that the campus was not a safe environment.
Tyrell K. Okoro, 23, was awarded $823,869 for non-economic damages and $76,131 for medical expenses by a Baltimore jury on Sept. 7.
Okoro’s complaint argued that the university and its police officers “should have known that its failure to properly address violent crime on its campus had created an environment that would subject its students, including Okoro, to an unreasonable risk that they would become the victim of violent crime.”
Okoro was shot three times outside of a dormitory in December 2012 by a non-student standing on an apartment balcony. The shooter, Keith Robertson, fired eight to ten shots at Okoro and another student.
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Okoro’s lawyers cited other instances of violence on the campus as evidence that the university failed to protect its students. The university settled another lawsuit with a former student who was beaten by a non-student on campus in 2014.
A Morgan State spokesperson says he is disappointed in the jury’s ruling and stressed that the university is continuing an “exhaustive review of its security/guest accountability policies,” according to the Baltimore Sun.
Okoro will have to take blood thinners for the rest of his life following surgeries related to the shooting.
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