Campus Alert Archive
CCU

A 3:30 AM Alert About a 7-Eleven Across Highway 501: CCU's Pre-Dawn Off-Campus Shooting Notification

SCshootingadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

Conway police were dispatched just before 2 AM EST on Monday, March 9, 2026 to a shooting at a 7-Eleven near Highway 501 in which one person was critically injured. Around 3:30 AM EST, Coastal Carolina University issued a CCU Alert telling students to avoid the 7-Eleven located off Highway 501 and East Cox Ferry Road where multiple agencies were investigating. The 7-Eleven sits next to CCU student off-campus neighborhoods. A follow-up alert at approximately 5:30 AM EST informed the campus that there was no threat to campus and normal activities could resume. Horry County Police later confirmed the two shootings near campus were related.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
1
Institution
Coastal Carolina University
Public R2 · SC
~10,300 studentsCCU Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 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 ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction163 chars
CCU Alert: Avoid the 7-Eleven at Hwy 501 and East Cox Ferry Road. Multiple agencies investigating in the area. No threat to campus at this time. Updates to follow.

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

Reconstructed from WPDE News' summary of the alert, which paraphrased the message but identified the time (around 3:30 AM EST) and the specific location (7-Eleven at Hwy 501 and East Cox Ferry Road)
The 3:30 AM EST timing is unusual for CCU Alerts — pre-dawn alerts typically wake students up and create panic; CCU's choice to push the alert anyway indicates the proximity of the 7-Eleven to off-campus student housing
Off-campus shooting alerts have become more common at CCU since the 2024 Smith Science building 911 incident; the university now pushes alerts for off-campus events the campus community is likely to encounter
ALL CLEARSMS+2 h
Approximate reconstruction147 chars
CCU Alert: No threat to campus from the Hwy 501 investigation. You may resume normal activities. Police remain on scene at the off-campus location.

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

Reconstructed from WPDE follow-up reporting of the 5:30 AM EST 'normal activities' alert
Two-hour gap between initial and all-clear alerts is consistent with CCU's stated practice of holding shelter or avoidance alerts until law enforcement provides ground-truth that the threat is contained
All-clear message preserved the 'police remain on scene' caveat — a careful choice that didn't suggest the underlying investigation had concluded, only that students could resume routines
Context

Background

Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC has issued a number of CCU Alerts about off-campus incidents in recent years — including the February 20, 2024 alert about a 911 call at the Smith Science building — but the March 9, 2026 pre-dawn alert about the 7-Eleven at Highway 501 and East Cox Ferry Road stood out for its 3:30 AM EST timing. The 7-Eleven sits adjacent to off-campus student-housing complexes that include Carter Lane and Founders Drive — the same Carter Lane and Highway 544 corridor where a separate March 2026 assault prompted a CCU response. Conway police charged Jeraymein Green, 20, of Longs, with attempted murder and weapons charges, alleging he flashed a handgun with a red laser and fired at the victim at least three times after an argument. Horry County Police later confirmed on March 20, 2026 that the March 9 7-Eleven shooting was related to a second off-campus shooting investigated separately. CCU's Department of Public Safety has been publicly commended at SC Commission on Higher Education hearings for the CCU safety app as a model for South Carolina's higher-education sector. The March 9, 2026 alert sequence is an example of CCU's standing practice of pushing notifications about off-campus crime adjacent to student housing, even at hours when students are most likely to be asleep.
Analysis

Key Findings

CCU's 3:30 AM EST push alert about an off-campus 7-Eleven sits at an unusual time-of-day for a campus emergency notification — most campus push systems hold alerts overnight unless campus is directly threatened
The two-hour gap between initial alert and 'normal activities resume' message is shorter than the typical CCU off-campus alert, suggesting that responders cleared the immediate scene quickly even as the broader investigation continued
CCU's practice of issuing alerts about adjacent-to-housing incidents (7-Eleven, Carter Lane, Smith Science) treats off-campus student-housing geography as part of the campus alert footprint — a model some peer SC institutions do not adopt
Outcome
One person was shot and critically injured at the 7-Eleven near Highway 501, where Conway police were dispatched just before 2 AM EST. Conway police charged Jeraymein Green, 20, of Longs with attempted murder and weapons charges, alleging he shot at the victim at least three times after an argument. No campus threat was established. Horry County Police confirmed on March 20, 2026 that the two shootings near CCU were related. Normal campus operations resumed approximately 5:30 AM EST.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Investigation near Coastal Carolina University prompts early-morning alert (WPDE News)
    wpde.com
  2. News
    Police confirm 2 shootings near Coastal Carolina University related (WMBF News)
    wmbfnews.com
  3. News
    CCU campus 'all clear' after 911 call at science building (WPDE News)
    wpde.com
  4. Official
    CCU Alert (Coastal Carolina University Emergency)
    coastal.edu
  5. Official
    Public Safety (Coastal Carolina University)
    coastal.edu
  6. News
    SC colleges talk safety, active shooter drills in wake of 'swatting' hoax (SC Daily Gazette)
    scdailygazette.com
Tags
shootingoff-campuspre-dawn-alertsouth-carolinapublic-r2coastal-carolinaccu-alerthorry-countyconvenience-store
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion