AROUND HIGHER EDUCATION: 8 N.C. State student-athletes charged in death of student

The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. -- Three female gymnasts from North Carolina State were charged yesterday in connection with the shooting death of another student, bringing the total number of students charged in the case to nine. Except for one student, all are Wolfpack athletes, including football players and wrestlers. Among the three reserve football players charged Sunday was David Stringer, son of Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer. His cousin, Korey Stringer, plays for the Minnesota Vikings. The charges were filed after Neil Davis Jr., a 21-year-old junior from Fayetteville, N.C., was shot with his own gun during a struggle with wrestler Clyde Blunt, 20, of Modesto, Calif., early Sunday, police said. Blunt, -- the defending ACC heavyweight champion -- was charged with involuntary manslaughter. The gymnasts, Rebecca Geiger, 21, Jennifer Sommer, 20, and Maggie Haney, 20, were charged with selling malt beverages to a person under 21 and selling malt beverages without a valid state permit. Their house was the scene of the party Davis targeted with gunshots, police said. Investigators said Davis fired several shots from a 9-mm pistol in the direction of a nearby noisy house party. A bullet fragment nicked wrestler George Cintron in the shoulder, but he didn't require medical treatment. Davis was shot in the stomach during the struggle with Blunt, who went to Davis' house with five other athletes after the shots were fired, Raleigh Police Capt. Michael Longmire said. Longmire said the gun was in Davis' possession when the shot was fired at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Davis died about six hours later. Police yesterday also charged Christopher Fay Green, 30, of Fayetteville, N.C., with misdemeanor breaking and entering into Davis' townhouse with the athletes. Green is not an NCSU student, Longmire said. The football players were charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering and misdemeanor assault. They were identified as Harold Jackson, 20, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Willie Wright, 19, of Greensboro, N.C. and Stringer, 19, of North Brunswick, N.J. Michael Mordarski, a 20-year-old wrestler from Marietta, Ga., was charged with breaking and entering, as was former wrestler Daniel Campenella, 21, of Coral Springs, Fla. Mordarski and Campenella were released on their own recognizance Sunday night. The three football players secured bonds ranging from $1,000 to $2,500. Blunt was released yesterday on a $5,000 bond. The wrestlers and football players were suspended. The athletic department said wrestling coach Bob Guzzo had no comment, but football coach Mike O'Cain said that he's "sick to [his] stomach.? I'm disappointed frankly that our guys wouldn't make a better decision than the one they did. Obviously, it was something that could have very easily been avoided, but they chose not to.'' Will Waddy, a senior and a member of the wrestling team, told The Technician, the NCSU student newspaper, that the charges were shocking to him. "I'm very surprised," he said. "I've known them since they came in -- about three years apiece. No way you would think they would be charged with no manslaughter." Most football players contacted by The Technician refused to comment on the arrest of their teammates, although NCSU free safety Shantay Taylor said, "They [the three football players charged] are good guys."