Nicolla Hewitt Saudi Gazette WICHITA, Kansas — Two people were arrested on Sunday in connection with the fatal shooting of a Wichita State University student on campus, police said. The suspects — a 23-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman — were arrested shortly after 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Wichita Deputy Police Chief Hassan Ramzah said, according to The Wichita Eagle newspaper. The paper indicated that the records show Isaiah Copridge, 23, and Eboni Fingal, 19, have been booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder. Wichita police officers responding to a report of a man down in the parking lot of Fairmount Towers, 2221 N. Hillside, at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday found Rayan Ibrahim Baba, 23, who had been shot several times, Ramzah said. “This was not a random act,” Ramzah said. Baba was acquainted with the two suspects and made arrangements to meet them at Fairmount Towers, where he lived, Ramzah said. He was fatally wounded there in the parking lot. Baba was a Saudi undergraduate student majoring in electrical engineering, according to Abdulrahman Alotaibi, vice president of the Saudi Student Association at Wichita State. In a statement, WSU president John Bardo said Baba had enrolled at WSU for the spring semester in the College of Engineering. “Our hearts go out to the loved ones of the deceased,” Bardo said in the statement. “We're very appreciative of the excellent police work leading to the identification of suspects in his death,” Bardo said. “To the best of our knowledge, neither suspect has an affiliation with WSU. Three days after Baba was murdered by two gunshots sustained in the parking lot on campus at Wichita State University, students studying there from Saudi Arabia are remembering him. Many of the 500 students from the Kingdom who are studying at the university, are still coming to terms with the fact one of their fellow countrymen died while pursuing his dream of being educated in the United States. Baba was a new student on campus this semester, and it was just about 10 days ago when a fellow Saudi student who just wanted to go by Mohammed Alkuwayti was at the same party as Rayan. In an exclusive interview with the Saudi Gazette, Mohammed, who is studying Electrical Engineering, said, “I saw him recently at an event at the Saudi student club on campus. It was an event we were having for new students to the university, and he had just transferred from Oregon. “He had more friends from the United States than he did from Saudi Arabia which really helped him understand life here. I was just so shocked when I heard the news. I just couldn't believe it, as we were supposed to be living in a safe place. But he seemed to be really happy with his American friends.” The president of Wichita State University has done his best to reassure students that in addition to the official police investigation, they too are doing their own research into what may have happened in this fatal shooting. Another student from the Kingdom, who's studying there, 23-year-old Mustafa Al-Salamah, said, “We Saudis like to be friends with all races, religions and people. We don't mind if people are Asian, or white or black. We are all one race. So we don't understand why someone would kill one of us.”
