Tragedy strikes campus

The GC&SU community was left in a state of disbelief with many unanswered questions after 20-year-old sophomore Evan Phillip Luke was murdered early Tuesday morning.

Luke, who was from Bogart, Ga. and a member of the GC&SU Chapter of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, was stabbed during an altercation at approximately 2 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of North Clarke and McIntosh Streets.

GC&SU Public Safety Director Ken Vance said the nature of the altercation has not been determined.

The murder suspect, 20-year-old Milledgeville resident Christopher Michael Layman, was arrested at the scene. Layman is not a GC&SU student.

“(Layman and Luke) just exchanged words, and then the spouting off led to the physical confrontation,” Vance said. “There is no real motive here; it was a sudden, senseless and very tragic act of violence.”

After the stabbing, Layman was one of three individuals that took Luke to a house on North Clarke Street to call for help.

University Police records indicate that Public Safety received an emergency call about an intoxicated student in need of assistance at approximately 2:30 a.m., which did not initially indicate that a stabbing had occurred. The stab wound was only discovered upon the arrival of Emergency Medical Services, Vance said.

Luke was taken to Oconee Regional Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, Vance said.

“None of the witnesses ever said anything about a knife or anything like that, so we just thought (Luke) had passed out,” Vance said. “No one knew except the person who did it until the wound was revealed, and he didn’t say anything to anyone.”

Vance said alcohol appeared to be a contributing factor in the incident and also played a role in the arrest of 19-year-old Phillip Johnson, who was charged with affray and underage possession of alcohol.

Johnson is not a GC&SU student. Another person, whose name has not been disclosed, was present at the scene but was released with no charges filed.

Milledgeville Chief of Police Woodrow Blue, Jr., who also responded to the crime scene, said Layman has been charged with murder.

“Mr. Layman was on the scene, matching the description of the suspect, and he was arrested (at that time),” Blue said.

According to both Blue and Vance, the pocketknife suspected to be the murder weapon was found in Layman’s possession at the time of the incident. Vance said the case against Layman seems to be a solid one.

Craig Henry, campus advisor to Kappa Sigma fraternity, said Luke’s death is a devastating loss for all of those involved.

“It’s a tragedy for our fraternity and his family,” Henry said. “(Luke) seemed to be a guy that had left (GC&SU) for a while and had come back with a vigor to make a difference in his fraternity in his time here at Georgia College.”

Kappa Sigma Executive Committee member and Grand Treasurer William Thompson was initiated into the fraternity with Luke in the fall of 2004. Thompson said Luke was a commendable person and will be greatly missed by everyone in the fraternity.

“He was a great guy. He was a very active member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He was a great brother, and he contributed a lot to the fraternity,” Thompson said. “He was always willing to lend a hand no matter what the task. I want it known that he was a great person; we love and appreciate him. It is a very hard loss for our fraternity and his family.”

Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Bruce Harshbarger said the university’s Counseling Center is providing on-going services for students in need of grief counseling.

“The counselors have talked to several students and done some outreach to the Kappa Sigma brothers,” Harshbarger said. “If someone needs someone to talk (they are there).”

Counseling Services can be reached at 445-5331 and is located at 122 Lanier Hall.

Funeral services for Luke will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4 at Hebron Christian Church in Winder, located at 2501 Hebron Church Road off Highway 53.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 4 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry