LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - Markieff Morris, an incoming freshman basketball player at Kansas, is facing a battery charge after allegedly firing a BB gun from his dorm window.
The 18-year-old, a member of coach Bill Self's 2008 recruiting class along with his twin brother, Marcus, has been ordered to appear Sept. 10 in Lawrence Municipal Court, the Lawrence Journal-World reported Wednesday on its Web site.
Campus police said shots were fired about 11:15 p.m. Saturday from a room in the Jayhawker Towers. A 47-year-old Wisconsin woman was in the dorm's courtyard about the same time and reported being shot in the arm with a plastic BB. The woman suffered minor injuries, according to the newspaper.
Morris is also suspected of using alcohol during the incident.
Officers seized a 3-foot-long black Airsoft rifle and a medium-sized plastic bag of BBs.
``We take this matter very seriously,'' Self told the Journal-World on Wednesday. ``Poor judgment was used by bringing an Airsoft gun, (one) that can be purchased at Wal-Mart, on campus that can shoot plastic BBs.''
Associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said the university's Student Housing Department is conducting its own investigation.
``We're not going to have any comment until that process is complete,'' Marchiony said. ``The fact-finding is ongoing.''
Markieff and Marcus Morris, forwards from Philadelphia, played last season at a prep school in Pennsauken, N.J.
As of Wednesday night, they were still awaiting an academic eligibility determination that would let them play for the Jayhawks.
The NCAA defending champions were scheduled to start practicing Thursday for an exhibition trip to Canada over the Labor Day Weekend.
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Information from: Lawrence Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com
