Voorhees University Student Among Victims in ODU Campus Shooting

A deadly shooting inside a classroom at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, struck close to home for Bamberg County when Voorhees University confirmed that one of the victims had direct ties to the Denmark institution's leadership.

The shooting, which unfolded March 12 into March 13, 2026, left multiple people dead on the ODU campus. Among those killed was the son-in-law of a Voorhees University trustee, a connection that transformed what might have seemed like a distant national tragedy into a moment of grief for the small historically Black university on Solomon Blatt Avenue in Denmark.

Voorhees University, which serves a student population drawn heavily from South Carolina's rural communities, confirmed the connection as national coverage of the ODU shooting intensified. The university has not publicly named the trustee or the victim, but the confirmation of the local tie was enough to cast a shadow over the campus just two days after the shooting occurred.

Old Dominion University, a public research institution with an enrollment of roughly 24,000 students, became the site of one of 2026's most high-profile acts of campus gun violence. The Norfolk shooting reignited debate across the country about security protocols in college classrooms, a conversation that now carries personal weight for the Voorhees community.

For Voorhees, which has worked in recent years to rebuild its institutional standing following accreditation challenges, the loss underscores how violence at campuses hundreds of miles away can reach directly into the lives of trustees, faculty, and families who form the backbone of a small HBCU. The university has not announced any formal memorial plans as of March 15.