Del. freshman dies a month after shooting

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DOVER, Del., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A 17-year-old freshman at Delaware State University died Tuesday, a month after she was shot, allegedly by another student.

Shalita Middleton, a biology major from Washington, had been in Christiana Hospital in Delaware since she was wounded, NBC10 in Philadelphia reported.

Loyer Braden, 18, a DSU freshman charged with shooting Middleton, who was hit twice in the abdomen, and Nathaniel Pugh, could now face a murder charge. Pugh, whose injuries were less serious, has recovered from them.

"She struggled valiantly over the last several weeks, and she was an inspiration to all of her friends both in Washington, D.C., and in Delaware, as well as her family members, especially her mother, Lavita, and her father, Tom," her family said in a statement. "Ultimately, however, the internal injuries that she suffered were in the end too critical to overcome."

Investigators say that the shooting followed an argument over a card game.

Middleton was the fourth DSU student to become a homicide victim in less than three months. In August, four friends who had all enrolled at DSU for the fall, were shot in Newark, N.J., killing three of them. Police say that the attack was a robbery.