Campus Alert Archive
Jackson State

Thirty Seconds of Police Gunfire on Lynch Street: The Jackson State Killings

MScivil unrestadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

At 12:05 AM CDT on May 15, 1970, Mississippi Highway Patrol officers and Jackson Police opened fire for approximately 30 seconds on a crowd of Jackson State College students in front of the Alexander Hall women's dormitory on John R. Lynch Street, firing more than 150 rounds and killing two young Black men: 21-year-old Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, a Jackson State junior, and 17-year-old James Earl Green, a Jim Hill High School senior who was walking home from work. Twelve more people were shot and survived; dozens were injured by exploding glass and brick. The killings came eleven days after the Kent State shootings in Ohio but received only a fraction of the national attention.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
2
Injured
12
Institution
Jackson State College
Hbcu · MS
~4,500 students
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTPhone
Approximate reconstruction470 chars
[Jackson Fire Department and Jackson Police Department received calls reporting a dump truck fire and disturbance on John R. Lynch Street at approximately 9:30 PM CDT on May 14, 1970. There was no Jackson State College campus alert system. Students learned of the unfolding situation through dormitory hallways, word-of-mouth, and a small AM radio station audible in the residence halls. Mississippi Highway Patrol cruisers and Jackson Police converged on Lynch Street.]

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The disturbance on May 14 had been ongoing throughout the day, fueled by rumors that civil rights leader Charles Evers and his wife had been killed (the rumor was false)
Jackson State College had no campus-wide emergency notification mechanism in 1970; on a historically Black campus in segregation-era Mississippi, the de facto alert system was the residence-hall public-address system at Alexander Hall
There was no Clery Act, no SMS, no email, and no protocol for notifying students of approaching armed police mobilization
UPDATEPhone
Approximate reconstruction546 chars
[At approximately 12:05 AM CDT on May 15, 1970, Mississippi Highway Patrol officers and Jackson Police opened fire on the crowd outside Alexander Hall after one officer reportedly heard a bottle break. The fusillade lasted approximately 28-30 seconds. More than 150 rounds were fired, including buckshot from shotguns, .38-caliber pistol fire, .30-caliber carbine fire, and submachine-gun fire. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green were killed. Twelve more were shot. The west wall of Alexander Hall was perforated by hundreds of rounds.]

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The fusillade began at approximately 12:05 AM CDT on May 15, 1970 and lasted between 28 and 30 seconds — one of the longest sustained police volleys ever fired on a U.S. college campus
There was no warning over any loudspeaker before officers opened fire; some officers later said they believed they heard a sniper, a claim never substantiated by physical evidence
Phillip Gibbs was killed approximately 50 feet from the officers as he walked toward Alexander Hall to check on a friend; James Earl Green, a 17-year-old high school student, was killed across the street as he walked home from his job at a grocery store
ALL CLEARPhone
Approximate reconstruction458 chars
[Jackson State College President John Peoples ordered the campus closed and the dormitories evacuated within hours of the shooting. Buses were arranged to transport students home. Mississippi Highway Patrol and Jackson Police remained on Lynch Street. The Mississippi Highway Patrol commander said publicly that no officer would be disciplined. The bullet-pocked west facade of Alexander Hall was preserved and remains visible today as a permanent memorial.]

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Jackson State closed for the remainder of the spring semester within 48 hours of the shooting; final exams were canceled
The Scranton Commission, appointed by President Nixon, concluded in October 1970 that the 28-second fusillade was 'an unreasonable, unjustified overreaction' but did not result in criminal charges against any officer
Federal and state grand juries both declined to indict; civil suits filed by the Gibbs and Green families were ultimately dismissed
The Alexander Hall facade with its preserved bullet holes is now a national landmark and the centerpiece of the Margaret Walker Center's commemorations every May 15
Context

Background

The Jackson State killings of May 14-15, 1970, occurred eleven days after the Ohio National Guard's killing of four students at Kent State University but received only a fraction of the national press attention, a disparity widely attributed to race. Tensions on John R. Lynch Street in Jackson, Mississippi — the major thoroughfare bisecting the historically Black Jackson State College — had been building for years over Vietnam War policy, civil rights, and the persistent harassment of Black students by white motorists driving down Lynch Street. On the evening of May 14, 1970, students gathered on Lynch Street after a rumor spread that civil rights activist Charles Evers, brother of the murdered Medgar Evers, had been killed (he had not). A dump truck parked in the middle of Lynch Street was set on fire. Jackson Police and Mississippi Highway Patrol units converged on the campus. At 12:05 AM CDT on May 15, 1970, in front of the Alexander Hall women's dormitory, an officer reportedly heard a bottle break or fired a warning shot, and approximately 40 officers opened fire on the unarmed crowd for between 28 and 30 seconds. More than 150 rounds were fired. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, a 21-year-old Jackson State junior and father of an 18-month-old son, was struck by buckshot and killed. James Earl Green, a 17-year-old senior at Jim Hill High School who was walking home from his job at a grocery store, was killed across the street. Twelve more people were shot and survived; dozens were injured by exploding glass. The bullet-riddled west wall of Alexander Hall was preserved and remains a permanent memorial. The Scranton Commission appointed by President Nixon concluded in October 1970 that the fusillade was 'an unreasonable, unjustified overreaction,' but no officer was ever criminally charged. The case is included in this archive because it pre-dates the Clery Act by 20 years, illustrates the absence of any campus-wide notification mechanism on a 1970 HBCU campus, and stands as one of the deadliest police shootings on American college campus grounds in the 20th century.
Analysis

Key Findings

Two killed (Phillip Gibbs, 21, and James Earl Green, 17) and twelve more shot in a 28-30 second police fusillade of more than 150 rounds in front of Alexander Hall
The killings came eleven days after Kent State and received a fraction of the national press attention — a disparity widely attributed to race
Jackson State had no campus-wide alert system in 1970; the de facto alert mechanism was the Alexander Hall PA system and word-of-mouth in the residence halls
The Scranton Commission concluded the fusillade was 'an unreasonable, unjustified overreaction' but no officer was ever criminally charged
The bullet-riddled west facade of Alexander Hall was preserved intact and remains a permanent memorial visible to visitors today
Outcome
Two killed: Phillip Lafayette Gibbs (21) and James Earl Green (17). Twelve people shot and survived. Dozens injured by exploding glass and ricocheting bricks. The Alexander Hall facade was riddled with hundreds of bullet holes that remain visible today as a memorial. A federal grand jury declined to indict any officer; a presidential commission led by William W. Scranton concluded in October 1970 that the 28-second fusillade was 'an unreasonable, unjustified overreaction.' No officer was ever criminally charged.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Source
    Jackson State killings - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
  2. Official
    The Gibbs-Green Tragedy - Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University
    jsums.edu
  3. Official
    Gibbs-Green shooting: May 15, 1970 - Jackson State University Communications
    jsums.edu
  4. Source
    The Jackson State Killings, 1970 - BlackPast.org
    blackpast.org
  5. Source
    May 15, 1970: Jackson State Killings - Zinn Education Project
    zinnedproject.org
  6. Source
    Steeped in the Blood: On The May 15th, 1970 Jackson State Killings - AAIHS
    aaihs.org
Tags
civil-unrestpolice-shooting1970spre-clerypre-modern-alertingmississippihbcuvietnam-eracasualtieshistoricalscranton-commission
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion