FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) — A shooting at UEI College in Fresno left a 25-year-old student wounded Wednesday night. An instructor is now speaking out after he helped save the student.
This incident occurred during class hours. The instructor said he didn’t think twice when he saw the student needing urgent help.
Chris Halsey has been working as a criminal justice instructor for the last 10 years at UEI College in Fresno.
He says he never expected to witness the kind of violence he teaches, firsthand, at work.
“I immediately yelled at him to stop the fight. As soon as I yelled at them to stop the fight, I heard the first two gunshots go off. The victim got hit. He collapsed at most 15 feet from me,” said Halsey.
A 25-year-old student from UEI was shot in the leg after an argument erupted between two people in the parking lot, according to police.
The Fresno police department says 4 to 10 shots may have been fired.
Halsey’s background in juvenile corrections prepared him to take swift action to help save the wounded student.
“I’ve had a lot of training in this. So I didn’t even really get time to think about it. It was only afterward that I was able to say, ‘Wow, that was a little close,” said Halsey.
It was around 8 pm on Wednesday when Halsey was standing outside during his break when he heard the gunshots. He then ran to save the wounded student, dragged him back inside of the building, and as the door was closing, shots were still being fired.
“As soon as we got inside and the door shut behind us, that’s when I heard the other shots happen. Once we were inside, we waited till the shot stopped, and then we pulled him the rest of the way up to the next landing so they couldn’t shoot him directly,” said Halsey.
Police say classes were in session at the time of the shooting, and the building briefly went into lockdown.
In a statement from UEI, they say: “UEI College commends Chris’s heroic actions, who acted quickly to assist and bring the victim to safety following the recent incident on our campus. His courage and compassion exemplify the spirit and dedication of our faculty, who always put the well-being of our students first.
Halsey still went to work the next day.
He says this incident won’t stop him from teaching kids about incidents like these.
“I don’t feel any less safe because of this. We’ve dealt with it appropriately. We’ve increased our security here. We have five officers on now on every shift.
Police are still looking for the suspect who was last seen wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, driving a silver car.
The college says the student is in stable condition.
Police credit the ShotSpotter system for allowing officers to respond quickly.
Halsey said they got there in less than 5 minutes.