Gun Violence and Criminal Justice

South Carolina authorities charged 18‑year‑old Khamanti Lytrel Kennedy with murder after a marijuana deal inside a South Carolina State University dorm room erupted in gunfire Thursday night, killing 19‑year‑old Henry L. Crittington and 18‑year‑old Terrell Thomas and wounding a student. Investigators say Kennedy, who is not enrolled at the Orangeburg HBCU and was already out on bond for a September gun‑on‑campus arrest, arrived at the Hugine Suites complex with three others, retrieved items from a car and was present when the deal turned into a shooting; the warrant does not yet specify who fired the shots. Kennedy allegedly fled the dorm afterward but was identified with the help of surveillance cameras installed following an October 4 fatal shooting near the same complex, and a judge denied him bond at a Tuesday arraignment. Campus officials have now tightened access, limiting visitor hours, adding security screening at gates, and asking lawmakers for $8 million to fund more cameras, a new on‑campus police station and additional officers. The case underscores escalating concerns about guns, drugs and repeat weapons offenders on and around college campuses, particularly at historically Black institutions already scarred by past violence such as the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre.