As the fog lifted in Salisbury this morning, one wished the weekend’s shooting could disappear as easily, as if it were only a bad dream. A Catawba College student lies dead with a bullet hole in his chest, and six Livingstone College students sit behind bars on murder charges. Talk of alcohol and drugs swirls around the story.

This is a heart-breaking, worst-case scenario for both colleges and for the city.

The colleges had renewed their football rivalry just two years ago; now they find themselves on opposite sides of a murder. And a city that likes to think of itself as safe and secure has witnessed its second murder in two weeks, the first being the random shooting of Dr. Randle Frink.

Catawba College no doubt will beef up campus security and its monitoring of on-campus parties. To have a fatal fire and a shooting death in the same year is almost beyond belief. The departure of head football coach Dave Bennett to Coastal Carolina —not nearly as tragic as the students’ deaths, but still a blow —has also made this a difficult year.

The Catawba party deserves scrutiny. Police investigators said students had obviously been drinking. Where were resident assistants and campus security while all this was going on? Is it their practice to look the other way while underage students drink on campus? Holding an inquisition of Catawba’s practices feels a little like blaming the victim. Nothing that occurred at the party could have warranted this type of assault. But the college has a responsibility to monitor and protect students.

All eyes turn to Livingstone, where President Algeania Freeman quickly expressed condolences and called for a meeting with Catawba officials. Catawba President Fred Corriher is now rushing home from a vacation in Europe.This is indeed a time when the colleges need to draw together. They must stand united against violence and illicit behavior, especially when it involves their own students.

Initial reports out of the Salisbury Police Department don’t look good for the Livingstone students. Police say the six of them loaded up in a car and went to Catawba, where something happened —a disagreement, a snub or something —that prompted them to retrieve a gun and come back firing. Later police found marijuana and cocaine in their car. If the charges prove true, these students have broken the law and needlessly ended a promising life. They have also betrayed the college that was trying to help them build a strong future.

But they are innocent until proven guilty, and both colleges must urge calm. The matter is now in the hands of the authorities. Students must not seek any form of reprisal on their own.

A person’s college years are supposed to be a time of intellectual and social growth, a chance to explore new terrain and learn limits. But this fatal shooting on the Catawba campus, with Livingstone students charged, suggests that things are dangerously out of control. The result has ended one life and potentially ruined others. No one on either campus can afford to look away.