<p>My heart goes out to their families.</p>
<p>Female</a> USC student, man fatally shot near campus - latimes.com</p>
<p>Yes, I was scared this morning when the text alert came. Called both my sons to make sure they were okay. A tragedy.</p>
<p>I appreciate the text alert that was sent. I also called my son as he lives about two blocks from the site of the shooting. Very disturbing. CBS News is saying that it appears to be a bungled carjacking.</p>
<p>Agreed. Very sad.
I never come on CC anymore, being a college senior. But seeing as it is college decision season, I felt obligated to come on and make a post about safety at USC. </p>
<p>This is not a freak incident. Four USC students have been shot this year. Two survived–one barely–and these two did not. All of these incidents occurred just blocks of campus, places you (or your daughter/son) will be living during their junior and senior years. Smaller crimes are frequent. Earlier this year, someone broke into the home of a student blocks from campus, held a knife to the girl’s neck, and then tied her up with a power cord. Students are mugged, shoved off of bikes, and sexually assaulted. USC tries to downplay the amount of crime in the area and, it is true, as a freshman/sophomore, you will be insulated from the area and will feel very safe. But ever since leaving campus, not a day has gone by that I don’t worry about how I will get home, how I will walk to my car, etc. And though USC has taken steps to address the amount of crime in the area, USC is not as safe as it appears to prospective students. I thought you all had a right to know, especially since it seems the crimes are getting worse and worse, what with this tragic double homicide.</p>
<p>It’s so sad. They were international students and their families are overseas. I just can’t imagine the phone call they received from USC telling them that their child is dead.</p>
<p>Thefailure-</p>
<p>I agree with you. I think every parent should know about the surrounding area of USC. Safety is SO important in college, you just never know what may happen to you. As a junior or senior, can you live on campus? I just applied as a transfer student.</p>
<p>^^QUOTE: <“Four USC students have been shot this year.”></p>
<p>Oh my. Is there a site to check safety statistics or confirm/monitor incidents? </p>
<p>We live an hour south of USC and know the area outside the campus perimeter is b-a-d. But four shootings in a year? That is extremely unsettling.</p>
<p>Where do you live now, thefailure?</p>
<p>Seems that the crimes get worse as students move further west of campus. (Yet I recall some residents objecting to the westward intrusion of USC safety officers (yellow jackets) and security cameras.)</p>
<p>gladiatorbird, the other shootings occurred at a house party located west of campus. The party host confronted an individual who had wandered into the party and was believed to be stealing items from the house.</p>
<p>Please note that this recent senseless shooting took place west of Vermont, almost at Normandie, which is somewhat of a distance from The Row, Century Apartments, Gateway, etc. Most university housing is nearer to campus, between Figueroa and Hoover/Vermont. </p>
<p>Students are always well advised to avoid crossing over west of Vermont. There are better and worse neighborhoods in the surrounding areas of USC. Hopefully this will at least cause students to be as aware of their surroundings as possible.</p>
<p>My heart goes out to the families.</p>
<p>gladiator, USC’s DPS (I forget what it stands for) sends out text and email alerts to anything kids need to be aware of. Parents can sign up, too.</p>
<p>I do know that USC is light years safer than it was in the past.</p>
<p>I live north of campus, close behind the sophomore housing complexes Cardinal Gardens and Century. To SCgal12: yes, it is possible to live on campus, though not guaranteed. Housing is done by lottery, and juniors and seniors are given lower priority, so there is not enough space for everyone. Plus, a good amount of USC housing is actually off campus.</p>
<p>And yes, many crimes are west of campus, though there are certainly some in the north campus area. What bothers me is that there have been incidents all over, at all times of day, to people who are following all of the safety precautions (someone was shoved off of their bike and mugged at 2pm on a major thoroughfare). But it is certainly wise to avoid west of campus at all costs, and in general, the closer to campus you live, the better off you are.</p>
<p>Wow so sad. This has been a concern of ours. Definitely makes you think about the safety issues at USC :(</p>
<p>Here is the link to sign up for the alerts. I just did it myself.</p>
<p><a href=“https://trojansalert.usc.edu/index.php?CCheck=1[/url]”>https://trojansalert.usc.edu/index.php?CCheck=1</a></p>
<p>While there are certainly legitimate dangers around USC, and while this incident is as tragic as it could possibly be, the DPS alert system (everything from the most minor, benign alert to the most serious) sometimes does make one feel that “stuff” is happening all the time. </p>
<p>USC’s DPS system, along with those emergency buttons or whatever their called, virtually all over the campus (you push it, someone appears in a ridiculously small amount of time) does have the effect of both combating and reducing crime, but also publicizing it quite well. If that makes sense. </p>
<p>USC’s awareness of the safety issue is actually what’s made the campus/neighborhood so much safer. It’s a double edged sword. I actually turned off the alerts because most were so meaningless.</p>
<p>This is such a tragedy, and so scary for all of use whose kids attend schools in urban areas (not that this couldn’t happen anywhere). Condolences to the families.</p>
<p>Campus crime is a problem across the nation. It is not limited to urban campuses. Not that long ago a freshmen woman was killed on the Auburn campus in Alabama. Auburn is just a small town. In the same week a female student was shot walking a short distance from UNC. A recent report from little Lane Univ. in western Tennessee listed 35 assaults, 13 thefts, 7 burglaries and l murder of a non-student ON the campus. At small Okios Christian Univ. the news reported the tragic killing of 7 and wounding of three.</p>
<p>A family member was walking in the early evening directly across the street from the UGA campus on a well lighted sidewalk. A group of young men came around the corner saw him and demanded money. It was a warm night and he was wearing a shirt and cotton knee shorts. When they discovered he had no wallet, he was thrown to the ground and beaten severely, kicked and lost two teeth… Fortunately, a car drove by and the group ran from the site. Fortunately, he recoverd and finished the semester. This took place in Athens, not a major metro area.</p>
<p>All of these incidents are senseless tragedies. It is a national problem and not just in urban areas. My heart goes out to all the families who are affected by the loss of loved ones.</p>
<p>Thanks GeorgiaGirl and NCMom…so tragic and as a parent, makes me feel very unsettled…although my son assured me that the neighborhood was over mile from campus and not a neighborhood he would visit but still scary for parents…Georgia Girls points are excellent however…One of the worst/most publicized homicides in NC was the killing of a Morehead scholar in Chapel Hill for no reason…random act of violence in a good neighborhood…</p>
<p>Just wanted to thank everyone for all the input here. This was one of the first news stories I saw this morning, and my heart just sank upon reading it. Such a tragedy, and I really feel for the victims’ family and friends. USC is in almost all ways a dream school for me, however, the issue of crime and the questionable location is certainly a hang-up. As an underclassmen, from what I have understood from this and similar threads, safety shouldn’t be as much of an issue due to living on campus, but is definitely something to consider. As Georgia Girl points out, however, on-campus violence can–and does–happen just about everywhere.</p>
<p>Our kids have both attended USC–S graduated in 2010 & D expects to graduate next month. They are as aware as they can be of the dangers in the area. Their cousin is attending podiatry school in Oakland, which is also rife with violence and crime. As was pointed out, there can be and is violence in “good” neighborhoods and less urban schools as well.</p>
<p>I think all we can do is try to remind our kids to be as safe as possible and know that society unfortunately DOES have violent people who may collide with our kids and others we love. Random acts of violence do occur–in the US & elsewhere.</p>
<p>My kids lived in off-campus apartments very near USC for JR & SR years. They did NOT feel unsafe in their apartment or getting to/from apartment & campus.</p>