On Tuesday, Feb. 1, Bridgewater College (BC), EMU’s neighbor, suffered the tragic loss of two of their campus officers, J.J. Jefferson and John Painter, during a shooting on BC’s campus. 

According to local news source WHSV, Police have a suspect in custody. EMU Campus Safety Officer Wayne Martin sent out an email at 2:11 p.m. on Tuesday notifying EMU’s campus of the events and staff’s attentiveness to campus safety. 

University Chaplain and Director of Faith and Spiritual Life Brain Burkholder offers a statement in the wake of our communities’ grieving. 

“The news of the shooting on the Bridgewater College campus hits some of us at EMU pretty hard. We know high school classmates who attend there or staff and faculty members working there. Some of us are alums of BC. Yes, our schools are athletic rivals but underneath this dynamic there is a relationship – a friendship. On many levels, we get each other. Given all of this, CAC and the Office of Faith and Spiritual Life quickly rallied to hold spaces for gathering, reflecting, caregiving and prayerful support. Students gathered Tuesday evening in the lounges of three residence halls with RDs Tyler Goss, Anne Coyne and Katie Corbit. On Wednesday, following a morning convocation where we lit a lamp to symbolically hold our prayerful awareness of this tragic situation, space for prayer and care was held in Common Grounds Coffeehouse from 11:00-2:00. It was mostly faculty and staff who gathered in this circle with a few students joining. People shared their connections with the Bridgewater College campus community and with the families of the slain security officers. We also remembered the family of the suspect who is in custody. Thoughtful cards were written to be delivered to the BC Chaplain in their Office of Spiritual Life. Next steps might involve creating banners and signs of solidarity and support with our friends, colleagues and neighbors at BC.”