(MOBILE, Ala.) - A South Alabama student is dead. Officials say a campus police officer shot and killed freshman Gilbert Collar after the student allegedly attacked the officer.
Colgan Meanor says this wasn't in his friend's character.
"This is definitely unusual and it's a very weird situation for sure."
Freshman Gilbert Thomas Collar of Wetumpka, Alabama was killed by a single shot fired by a campus police officer.
Today, USA campus police scrambled to explain what a university spokesman describes as "a campus tragedy".
According to campus police, at 1:23 a.m. one of their officers heard a loud banging noise on one of the campus police station windows. The officer says he was confronted by, what they describe as a muscular, nude man acting "erratically". The unidentified officer says the man "verbally challenged him."
USA spokesperson Keith Ayers took the explanation further.
"The man repeatedly rushed toward the officer and verbally challenged the officer in a fighting stance. The officer, with weapon drawn, ordered the individual to stop. The officer retreated numerous times in an attempt to calm the situation. The individual continued to press toward the officer in a threatening manner.">
Ayers went on to say the man rushed the officer again and again... with the officer retreating several times, verbally ordering the man to stop.
"When the individual continued to rush toward the officer in a threatening manner and ignore the officer's repeated command to stop, the officer fired one shot with his police side arm, which struck the chest of the assailant, The individual fell to the ground, but he got up once more and continued to challenge the officer before collapsing and expiring."
USA Police have requested the DA's office conduct an external investigation. They will, assisted by the Mobile Sheriff's Dept.
Meanwhile, Colgan Meanor and those who knew the competitive high school wrestling standout, struggle to make sense of it all.
"That's not the kind of person he was. You can ask anyone who knew him, he was a great loving guy, always made people smile... Everyone form my home town are expressing the same kind of shock I am right now."
