Students concerned with crime near ODU

NORFOLK, Va. - How concerned is ODU student Clif Gustafson about crime where he lives, half a block away from the ODU campus?

Concerned enough to pack heat, a glock 22 he proudly shows to WAVY.com, "Somebody's got to protect us. There's violent criminals out here."

Gustafson's concern follows a shooting on 41st Street in Norfolk, just off the ODU campus Wednesday night. A man died from the shooting, but he was not an ODU student. It didn't involve ODU and was technically off the ODU campus.

Gustafson lives across the street from where the man was shot and eventually died.

Thursday, Gustafson spent the day creating a new page on Facebook he calls "ODU is Not Safe," and he encouraged people to email Governor Tim Kaine with their concerns, "How can we expect ODU to build new facilities when they can't provide a safe campus environment for the ones they have."

Norfolk police aren't saying much about the shooting, and would not comment. ODU tells WAVY.com there are increased campus patrols, but they can't be everywhere and since this was non-ODU related, this is a Norfolk Police situation.

Don't tell that to Landon Knapp, "We're pretty fed up with it as students and something has to change...police seem to care more about breaking up parties than protecting us from crime."

There's widespread belief on 41st Street that ODU has a security problem, whether right or wrong.

"The news is saying, 'oh, well this is happening off campus.' Well this is where they are housing ODU students," said student, Megan Kibitlewski.

Back to Clif Gustafson, well he's taken matters into his own hands as he 'holds his little friend' the Glock 22, "I'm not going to get shot without putting up a fight...this is my house and I'm going to protect my property."