USC Student Wounded by Gunshot as Two Men Attack Her Near Campus

A 21-year-old USC student was in guarded condition at County-USC Medical Center late Saturday after she was shot in the back when two men attacked her as she entered her apartment house just north of the campus.

Kimberly Warfield, an engineering student and ROTC cadet from Harborcreek, Pa., told friends who came to her aid that she had no idea why one of the men shot her as she walked into the university-owned two-story complex in the 600 block of West 27th St., a block north of Sorority/Fraternity Row, on Friday night.

Over the years, the neighborhood south of downtown around USC has become one of the highest crime areas in the city, with students becoming the victims of robbery, rape and even murder. At least seven attacks occurred on the campus last year.

Concern for Security

The campus has expanded its security force, and much of the student housing--like the Stardust complex where Warfield was shot--has taken on a fortress-like aspect, with locked entry gates and steel bars covering first-floor windows.

Police said they had no suspects and knew of no motive in Friday night’s attack. Campus police were unable to add further information, and university officials were not available for comment.

Mike Roy, 22, an undergraduate who lives in the student housing complex, said he was sitting in his first-floor apartment at about 10 p.m. with his girlfriend, Michelle Delvaux, 22, when they heard “a sound like a backfire, only louder.”

“It was quiet for a second,” he said. “Then I heard (Warfield) shouting, ‘I’ve been shot! I’ve been shot! My God, I’ve been shot!’ ”

Roy said he dashed out of his apartment to find Warfield “staggering forward, holding her chest.

“The apartment manager, Danny Wexler, caught her in his arms and guided her into his apartment,” Roy said. “We put her on the floor, and I covered her up--tried to keep her from going into shock--while Danny called 911.

“The bullet had hit her in the back and come out her chest. She wasn’t bleeding much, but you could tell she was in a lot of pain.”

While waiting for police, Roy said, he and Delvaux talked with the young woman, trying to keep her conscious until medical help arrived.

“She didn’t have a parking permit, so she parked on the street,” Roy said. “She said she was walking from her car to the gate,” a massive, steel-mesh structure enclosing the entry to the building. Sgt. John Bunch of the Southwest detective unit said Warfield told police that someone in a powder-blue car, possibly a Chevrolet Impala, called out, “Hey, come here.” Bunch said Warfield became frightened, unlocked the gate and entered.

A passenger in the car got out, managed to reach the gate before it closed and fired one shot at Warfield, hitting her in the right side of her back, the victim told police. Bunch said the bullet pierced her lung.

Roy said the men then drove away. He described Warfield as a “very nice, very quiet” neighbor who has been living in the complex with two roommates during the last academic year. He said the roommates, who both were away Friday, were upset when they returned Saturday morning to learn what had happened.

“We’re always concerned about the security around here,” he said. “This is a bad neighborhood. People are always approaching you for money.

“We’re an island in the middle of a storm.”