Shepherd University

Three people were killed in an apparent murder-suicide Saturday afternoon on the Shepherd University campus. University spokeswoman Valerie Owens said a man shot two other men in a campus parking lot, then shot himself about 2 p.m. See Sunday's Herald-Mail for the full stories.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The Shepherd University Music Department will present a free Percussion and Drumming Festival Sunday, Nov. 16, from noon to 3:30 p.m. in the Frank Arts Center on the Shepherd campus. The event is free and open to the public, and the instructional clinics are geared toward percussionists and drummers of all ages, including professionals, students and enthusiasts. For more information, contact Michelle Humphreys at 410-960-2771 or e-mail michelle@percussionpro.

Siriki Diabate left his four daughters, parents and three siblings behind in 2005 when he was forced to flee his native Ivory Coast after suffering a terrific beating by thugs who left him for dead. He was working for a local newspaper at the time, writing stories exposing the national government's practice of persecuting the Malinki tribal people in the country's northern region, he said. “I am a Malinki,” said Diabate, who was 32 at the time he was beaten. The men who beat him were unofficial paramilitary goons hired by the government to harass Malinki activists, Diabate said in a recent interview.

The second of three buildings forming Shepherd University's Center for Contemporary Arts, a “building designed from the inside out,” was dedicated Thursday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the West Campus. “That's what happens when the inside dictates what the outside of a building looks like,” said Dow Benedict, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities. The exterior of the 26,000-square-foot, three-story structure is clad in heavy copper shingles that time will darken with a patina.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.VA. - Shepherd University is feeling Virginia Tech's pain. Seven months ago, a father shot and killed his two sons at the Shepherdstown campus, then killed himself. On Monday, Virginia Tech was the site of the nation's worst shooting spree when a gunman killed 32 others then himself. Students at Shepherd - where some said worry has eased since last fall - watched what happened in Blacksburg, Va., on Monday with empathy. "I definitely feel a kind of connection in the kind of anxiety ...," said freshman Jeb Inge, the sound of last year's sirens still memorable.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. --  The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department is investigating the apparent shooting of a 20-year-old Shepherd University student early Thursday.  The student, a Shepherdstown, W.Va.,  resident, was treated for a gunshot wound to the arm at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., and is expected to recover from the injury, according to Sheriff's Department Detective Tracy Edwards.  The shooting happened along W.Va. 480 between midnight and 1 a.m., in Jefferson County, said Edward, who could not specify an exact location.

Shepherd University electricians Dennis George, right, and Steven Reneker clean and repair streetlights at one of the college's entrances Wednesday in Shepherdstown, W.Va.

Tonya Racanelli and Scott Shade of Shepherdstown, W.Va., finish landscaping at Shepherd University just before the rain falls Tuesday afternoon.

Jeremy Stewart of Hedgesville, W.Va., returns a serve Wednesday during tennis class at Shepherd University. Warm weather enabled the class to be held outside.

A pedestrian crosses W.Va. 480 between the East and West campuses of Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va., on Wednesday.