Bowie State Students Mourn Classmate

Students at Bowie State University in Maryland should be celebrating their homecoming this weekend, but instead they are grieving for a classmate who was fatally stabbed in her dormitory last night. 

Clutching tissues and each other, a stunned student body filed into a service for 18-year old Dominique Frazier Friday. Marjani Carter was friends with the victim.

"She was a nice girl," she says. "She kept to her friends. She just seemed like a normal girl to me. We know that people die every day, are killed every day, but it’s hard to take it in when the person is being killed right on your campus." 

Frazier’s roommate, 19-year old Alexis Simpson, has been charged with her murder. Sophomore Janet Alexander, who saw Simpson yesterday, says she's struggling to understand what happened.

"I'm just surprised because I just said hi to her yesterday," explains Alexander. "She seemed very calm. She was walking by with a friend. And I got up and I waved to her."

Alexander's mother Diane says the university should review its housing policies in the wake of the tragedy.

"I’d like to hear from the higher ups that they will screen the students a little more vigorously," she says. 

University spokesperson Cassandra Robinson says Bowie State plans to do just that. 

"Bowie State remains a safe campus and this kind of violent behavior has not been historic to our university," she says. "The community is taken aback and we will be re-examining all of our processes."

In the meantime, the university is offering extended hours at its counseling office and is encouraging students to come forward if they're having trouble coping.