FAU sociology professor, Thomas Wilson, explained why the overall reaction to a near-campus shooting would be this way.

“Perhaps we’re so used to violence happening in kind of a random way we’ve built a callous over it,” he said. “If it’s nothing that affects you or somebody that you know, it doesn’t seem very real to you.”

Mohammad Alfonzaie, a senior accounting major who also lives at Casa Del Rio, said that he was surprised it happened so close to FAU, but said he still feels safe.

Keyon Huggins, a junior management and marketing major, lives at University Village Apartments, a block down the road from the shooting.

“It happens everywhere,” he said. “People get shot, people die.” Huggins admitted, though, that his roommate plans to take the longer route to Publix in order to avoid passing by 4th Ave. after the shooting.

He wasn’t the only UVA resident who felt this way.

Nick Gutzmer, a junior accounting major, also said “it happens everywhere,” but he plans to be “a little more careful.”

Kyle Miller, a freshman electrical engineering major, said “It could happen anywhere.”

But while most students are unaffected, others are shaken and unsettled. Freshman and computer programming major, Sean Garland, said he was “definitely a little unsettled” and plans to “be more on guard.”

And, Jumaane Wilks, a fourth-year electrical engineering major who lives at Casa Del Rio, said he is going to be more cautious when he goes out of the house and at night. He’s also thinking of buying a hand gun.

“It made me realize, ‘Hey, things are starting to happen so I might need to get some protection,’” he said.