North Carolina Central University students banded together to walk out of class in protest and call for answer in the shooting of a 23-year-old senior who was killed by a security guard last month.
On Sept. 21, NCCU Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye simply said in a statement that Ballard died “due to an incident that is under investigation by police.”
It was reported on Sept. 24, that Ballard was shot by a N.C. Detective Agency security guard who confronted the student suspected of breaking into cars. A representative of the agency has said the security guard shot Ballard in self-defense, the Herald Sun reports.
However the family and his friends don’t believe that claim that Ballard would do something that would cost him his life.
“He was afraid of guns, wasn’t violent, respected authority and had never been in significant trouble,” Ballard’s mother, Ernisha Ballard said.
Ballard said she was told by police that her son got into the security guard’s car and started fighting with him and when he then tried to get the guard’s gun, that was when he was shot.
Although Shaniya Hunter said she didn’t know Ballard, she was one of the students who walked out of class in protest.
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“I just felt like it was right to support (Ballard) because he was doing good,” said Hunter, an 18-year-old freshman. “It wasn’t like he was a troubled person.”
“My concerns are just why does security feel like they have to take other people’s lives into their own hands,” she said. “We are supposed to feel safe around them.”
NCCU released a statement regarding Ballard.
“The university is not associated with and does not have any contractual agreement with Campus Crossings, an independently-owned residential apartment complex,” the statement said. “The NCCU police department officers have no jurisdiction or connection with the Campus Crossings apartment complex nor with the security officer involved in the incident. NCCU does not endorse or recommend any specific rental property for students.”