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A professor of physiology and anatomy was fatally shot in what authorities say is an apparent murder-suicide a coroner reported on Friday. The professor worked and was killed at the University of South Carolina.
Raja Fayad, who was 45, was shot a number of times in the upper body on Thursday afternoon in an office on the fourth floor of the Public Health building on the university grounds.
The other dead person’s identity has not yet been released because that person’s family had not yet been notified, said the coroner on Friday.
Authorities said the two people who were killed had, had “a history together.” However, there was nothing said specifically about what the nature of that relationship was.
Local property records show that Fayad owned property close to Lake Murray, but authorities said he had been living at the time of his death at a hotel with a member of his family.
Fayad first came to the University of South Carolina back in 2008. He taught physiology and anatomy amongst other classes according to his biography at the university.
He headed the Applied Psychology Division in the Public Health Department at South Carolina. He received high marks for university students on a site on Internet that allows them the chance to rate professors.
The shooting took place in an office on campus. Students as well as faculty learned about the shooting from university officials who sent out an emergency text alert saying shots had been fired and everyone should remain inside wherever they were.
Students took to social media sending out pictures of classes continuing on the sprawling campus except for inside the building where the shooting had taken place.
One photo showed that a table had been pushed up against a door.
Harris Pastides the President of the university asked that the school honor Fayad. School officials told all professors not to penalize any students who did not show up for Thursday afternoon classes even if exams were missed.
The university, besides sending out text alerts, interrupted programming on its campus cable system to warn everyone on campus.
