Gunshots fired outside party

No one was injured in the incident outside the Newman Center Sunday. Two gunshots were fired from an automatic weapon early Sunday morning as police broke up a fraternity party at the Newman Center. The shots hit a car's fender and tire but injured no one, police said. The shots rang out at about 1:30 a.m., after police arrived at the request of officials at the University-affiliated Catholic center to break up the Kappa Alpha Psi party, which attracted a police-estimated 400 to 500 students from Penn as well as Drexel and Temple universities. A security guard at the Newman Center, located at 3720 Chestnut Street, had called police and asked them to break the party up because it was "getting out of hand," said Father Charles Pfeffer, the center's director. According to University Det. Commander Tom King, a group of men jumped on a car with five female Temple students inside while they were trying to exit the parking lot. The Temple students told police that people were reaching in through the windows and hitting them while they tried to leave. One of the men on the car then fired the shots, one of which hit the front passenger fender and flattened a tire, police said. While many people heard the shots, King said, "nobody saw anyone fire a gun." The Temple students were taken to the Philadelphia Police Department's Southwest Detectives bureau at 55th and Pine streets, where they gave descriptions of the men they saw. They recognized some of them as fellow Temple students but did not know their names, King said. Police recovered two shell casings from the scene, which are being studied by city police. King said the weapon was automatic, but officials do not know what kind of gun it was. The Penn Police are "aggressively investigating the matter" along with city authorities and the Temple police, King said. Khalilah Bryan, a Penn Alpha Kappa Alpha sister who attended the party, said the incident was not as frenzied as one might expect. "It wasn't chaotic. People just moved out of the way," the College sophomore said. "No one was stampeded or anything." She also expressed fear that the gunfire will mean that the Newman Center will stop allowing parties there. "No one knows whether Greeks will be able to have parties at the Newman Center," she said. Pfeffer said he and his staff will "most definitely" re-evaluate hosting parties at the Newman Center in light of the incident. Groups holding parties there must already sign an agreement promising that there will be no alcohol or drugs on the premises. Pfeffer said there have already been several parties held there this year. "It's really unfortunate," he said of the incident. "By and large most people were respectful and having a nice time. It's a shame some folks have to ruin it for other people." College senior Fungayi Kapungu, the president of Kappa Alpha Psi -- a fraternity in the BiCultural InterGreek Council -- said the incident should not reflect on his fraternity because it occurred outside after the party was over and did not involve fraternity members.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.