College President: Fatal Shooting Happened in 'Problem Area'

"Hopefully, that will be an alert and alarm for the law enforcement agencies of the community and the City Council people to recognize that it's a festering sore and that there needs to be an increased standard of patrolling," St. Augustine President Dianne Suber said.

The shooting occurred at about 1 a.m. Friday near the intersection of Tarboro and Lane Streets, police said.

Officers responding to the scene found Ricky High, 48, dead and Tyree Qullion Truesdale, 18, wounded.

Truesdale was taken to WakeMed for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Those who knew High said he would come into businesses and offer to help clean them.

"He was a neighborhood guy. You would recognize him all the time," resident Kahleel Smith said.

Witnesses told investigators they saw one person at the scene when the shootings occurred. But police said no arrests have been made.

Police said they do not believe the shooting is related to the campus.

Officers have responded to 17 serious crimes – police include assaults, robberies, rapes and murders in the category – in the quarter-mile radius around the campus since January, including Oakwood, Tarboro and Lane streets, Raleigh Police Department records show. Police have been called to the area more than 50 times in the same period.

"That whole corridor becomes a problem for our kids coming and going, which they should be able to do with an expectation of safety," Suber said. "These young men and women on this campus deserve the same kind of protection as young men and women and citizens in other parts of the city do."

Raleigh police spokesperson Jim Sughrue emphasized that a sizeable force is already patrolling the area. He said it will take a joint effort by the college, city and residents to clean up crime in the area.

Most of the students at St. Augustine's College were out on fall break Friday. Those on campus were told to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.