A Columbus State University professor died early Monday morning in what the coroner has ruled an accidental shooting at a home near Lakebottom Park.
What It Means For You: The university is offering support services to students and staff affected by the loss of their teacher.
What Happened: Police responded to a home on 17th Street just after midnight Monday. The coroner identified the victim as Erica Blascom Anderson, who taught in the theater department.
- The shooting involved two women who knew each other
- According to police, Anderson was shot by her roommate who thought she was an intruder.
- The coroner worked with police to determine the death was accidental
About the Victim: Anderson had just started at Columbus State this fall. She taught costume design and ran the costume shop for the Department of Theatre and Dance.
What’s Next: The Columbus Police Department Violent Crimes Unit continues to investigate the circumstances of the shooting.
Key Statistics on Firearms in the Home
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More Risks Than Defense
Research dating back to the late 1990s found that for every self-defense shooting in a home, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and eleven suicides linked to guns in that same setting. -
Unintentional Shootings Are Common at Home
From 2003 to 2021, 85% of accidental shootings involving children occurred in a home or apartment, and over half of those were in the victim’s own residence. In 2022, 78.3% of the 530 recorded unintentional shooting deaths happened in private residences—and more than half of those occurred in the victims’ own homes. -
Children Bear the Brunt
Between 2015 and 2021, 3,498 Americans died from unintentional gun injuries; 713 of them were children under 18. -
No Protective Effect Found
A Stanford-led study found no evidence that having a handgun in the home offered protection. Instead, it increased risk of assault and homicide.
The Sources: Columbus Police Department, Muscogee County Coroner, Columbus State University President Dr. Stuart Eddings Rayfield.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
