One Shot, Several Injured at N.J. College

MADISON, N.J. – One student was shot and three other people stabbed in a fight that started during a dance at Fairleigh Dickinson University (search) early Sunday.

Authorities would not say whether arrests had been made. They said the injuries were not life threatening and appealed to the public for more information.

The campus was closed to visitors Sunday and Morris County Prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio said it would remain closed for the rest of the day.

The fight involved visitors to the school as well as students from its campuses in Madison and Teaneck, about 30 miles apart in northern New Jersey, according to a statement from school President J. Michael Adams (search).

The fight started during a dance held by the Association of Black Collegians (search) and "resulted in an escalating confrontation," Adams said.

The shot was fired as Florham Park police arrived at the scene of the melee, authorities said.

"It sounded like all-out war," said Jenelle Welch, 19, a freshman from Hightstown who was doing her laundry when the fight broke out at the school's student center.

Joseph A. Devine, chief of investigations for the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, said the shot's caliber was too small to have been from a police officer's weapon.

"There are several people of interest we are pursuing," he said.

Rubbinaccio would not say whether the gun had been found, but said a number of knives had been recovered.

In all, seven people were injured in the brawl. Only the shooting victim, whose name was not released, was identified as a student.

Adams' statement said the wounds suffered by the gunshot victim, a student at the Teaneck campus, were not believed to be life threatening. Authorities said the student was shot in the abdomen.

Besides the shooting and stabbing victims, one person received superficial knife wounds, one was hit with a bottle, and another was hit with some type of wooden bench, Rubbinaccio said.

He said the cause of the fight was under investigation.

The dance was held as an after-party for attendees of a fashion show held by the Association of Black Collegians at the Teaneck campus, officials said.

Madison campus sophomore Maria Otero said police with machine guns refused to let anyone leave campus early Sunday.

Otero said hours later she was becoming upset with the light-hearted manner in which students were talking about the shooting.

"Everyone was joking about it, saying 'Don't go there, you'll get shot,"' said Otero, 19, of Sayreville.

Four of the victims were taken to Morristown Memorial Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said. One of the people was released, she said, but did not give any other information.

Saint Barnabas Medical Center spokeswoman Robin Lally said two Fairleigh Dickinson students were treated and then released from the hospital in Livingston. She did not disclose the students' names or the nature of their treatment.

Fairleigh Dickinson is an independent university with campuses in Madison and Teaneck. About 3,500 undergraduates and graduate students attend the Madison campus, called the College at Florham.