NORTHVILLE, Mich. – A Northville native attending Brown University spent seven hours in hiding this weekend as a mass shooting unfolded just blocks away.
Camber Smith is a freshman Biology and Economics major. She was supposed to be taking finals this week.
Now, those finals are canceled after a mass shooting killed two and injured nine others Saturday (Dec 20) afternoon on the university’s campus.
“We went to the dining hall at around 2 p.m. because we started getting hungry, and then we went to the Rockefeller library, like ‘The Rock,’” Smith said.
The Novi High School grad woke up Saturday focused on finishing her first semester on campus.
“I had an Econ final on Sunday, so I was studying for that,” Smith said.
That was until a text tore across her phone screen.
“Everyone, take cover. Gunshots in Barus and Holley,” the text said.
Smith had friends inside the science library, near the building.
“We didn’t really know where to go,” Smith said. “There wasn’t really anywhere to go. We kind of just, everybody kind of got up and walked around and try to figure out ‘where can we hide?’”
They hid in a locked level of the library for hours, quietly watching and waiting for updates.
“All we know is like suddenly everybody had their hands up and we’re walking in a line outside of the basement; they shorted us all into the staff cubicles,” Smith said.
A bus shuttle service transported students from the library to the athletic center.
They wrote an “X” on Smith’s left hand to mark her as accounted for.
Smith was there until 1 a.m.
Her dad was already on the road from Northville to Providence, Rhode Island.
“When your dad pulled in, and you saw him, describe that moment,” Local 4’s Kyla Russell asked Smith.
“I gave him a really big hug, and I was really thankful that he was there,” Smith said.
Inside her childhood bedroom, a week before she was supposed to be, hangs her Brown acceptance letter.
Smith said that despite the violence, she hopes the campus will still feel like home.
“There’s still pride in our school, we’re still strong,” Smith said.