WKU student shot in Louisville over holiday weekend

John Reecer

A WKU sophomore is in serious condition in a Louisville hospital after being shot in the mouth early Sunday after leaving a party near the University of Louisville.
 
Eriaun Warrick, 19, of Louisville apparently was hit by stray gunfire, said Christopher 2X, a Louisville activist who organized a briefing on the incident. She was in a crowd of about 200 people near the intersection of Third Street and Cardinal Boulevard when a fight broke out and someone began firing a gun.
 
“She got hit by a stray bullet, no doubt,” Christopher 2X said. Warrick is at the University of Louisville Hospital, where she initially was in critical condition, 2X said. She was shot in the mouth and the bullet lodged in her upper back, The Courier-Journal reported.
 
“She has only been there a couple of days now and I see some wonderful progress that unfolded yesterday as far as her starting to respond through eye-to-eye contact,” 2X said. “I have seen many in the ICU before who were under similar situations as far as being gunshot victims and they never have responded to us early as she has.”
 
Warrick is an education major at WKU.
 
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Eriaun and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery,” said Bob Skipper, media relations director for WKU, in a statement.
 
According to The Courier-Journal, after leaving the party Warrick and some of her friends walked up to the crowd near the intersection.
 
A fight broke out in the crowd, which resulted in several shots being fired, The C-J said.
 
No arrests have been made, according to news reports.
 
This is not the first time that Warrick’s family has been in a situation like this. In 2004, 2X said, Warrick’s cousin Key’vonne Edison was shot and killed in Louisville.
 
“(Eriaun) might have been around 6 or 7 around the time that this occurred in November of 2004,” 2X said. “Unfortunately she (Edison) was a homicide tragedy that occurred in west Louisville. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any evidence of her being a target or something, but it is still an unsolved homicide almost 12 years later.”
 
“At the end of the day, this actually is a game changer for the family,” 2x said. “It’s really heartbreaking. I just think that they, like many families who have someone that makes it to the next step as far as education passion, were probably at a level of joy over her pursuing her educational goals and wanting to create a career out of it.”