Parents of slain Spelman University student, Jasmine Lynn, filed a lawsuit last Thursday holding Clark Atlanta University liable for their daughter’s wrongful death. The young woman, a sophomore with a 3.8 GPA, was shot by a stray bullet on September 3 while walking on campus. The parents, Constance Franklin and Clint Robet Lynn, would like Clark Atlanta University to compensate them for the pain and suffering that they and their daughter suffered after her shooting.

 
Clark Atlanta University is located in the Atlanta University Center complex which is in a high-crime area just west of downtown. The premises liability lawsuit, filed in Fulton State Court, claims that Clark Atlanta University “failed to excise ordinary care to properly secure” the campus although similar incidents had happened in the past and the shooting was “foreseeable”.  The suit alleges that the university knew how dangerous the streets were, but it did not warn students nor did it take steps to make the campus safer.  The parents say that the neighboring campuses of Spellman College and Morehouse College have done far more to keep their campuses safe.

 
The parents would like to be reimbursed for funeral and burial expenses, the physical and emotional pain, suffering and anxiety that the victim suffered before her death, and “the full value of their daughter Jasmine Lynn’s life, including economic damages of loss of earning capacity and non-economic damages, including loss of enjoyment of life.”

 
Under premises liability law, universities are responsible for maintaining the security and safety of their campuses.