BALTIMORE — A man identified for years as a suspect in the 2023 mass shooting at Morgan State University was indicted Wednesday over the on-campus attack.

Baltimore Police linked Javon “Chewy” Williams to the shooting, which injured five people during the historically Black university’s homecoming week, within the first several days of their investigation.

However, the Washington native was soon taken into federal custody as a member of the city’s Kennedy Street Crew gang — a criminal matter that Williams, 21, has been tied up with ever since.

Wednesday’s 27-count indictment comes almost three years after the Morgan State incident, just more than a year into Williams’ federal prison sentence and less than a month after his codefendant, Marquis Brown, was convicted on 19 charges, including five counts of attempted second-degree murder.

In a statement to The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said Williams’ indictment is an important step toward accountability for a crime that “shattered what should have been a celebratory and joyous homecoming week at Morgan State University.”

“Five individuals were injured, and countless students, families and community members were left traumatized by this brazen act of gun violence,” the prosecutor said. “While no legal proceeding can erase the fear and lasting emotional impact experienced by the victims and witnesses, this indictment moves us closer to justice.”

Williams’ defense attorney, Natalie Finegar, did not immediately respond to a comment request on Thursday.

On Oct. 3, 2023, authorities from several law enforcement agencies responded to the historically Black university’s campus in Northeast Baltimore, where shots had been reported near a residential building and a fine arts facility.

Four men and one woman were found injured at the scene alongside 17 bullet casings. Of those hospitalized, four were Morgan State students and all were between the ages of 18 and 22.

The shooting sent the school into a shelter-in-place order for hours and led Morgan State to cancel both classes and homecoming activities for the rest of the week.

Once Brown was arrested Oct. 12, less than two weeks later, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the agency “will not rest until Williams is in custody.”

Williams, who began a 15-year federal prison sentence last spring, is now charged with attempted second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, assault and reckless endangerment, among other crimes, in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

As of Thursday, his next court date has not been scheduled.

At the time of the shooting, before Baltimore Police had identified a suspect, authorities said they believed the incident stemmed from a dispute between two groups and that none of the people wounded were intended targets.

“It is truly a miracle that no one was killed that night,” Bates said in a news release last month.

But charging documents do not explain what relationship, if any, Brown and Williams had to Morgan State or the victims in the case, although one of them was able to identify the pair to authorities.

A few months after Williams was convicted in his federal case last year, Brown was scheduled to begin his attempted murder trial in Baltimore. However, after prosecutors were unable to delay the trial for an out-of-town witness, they refiled the case in a controversial decision that essentially restarted the then-19-year-old’s judicial process.

Brown, now 21, was ultimately convicted last month of more than a dozen charges and faces up to 259 years in prison.

Sentencing is scheduled to take place Aug. 12.

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