Two Louisville Football Players and a Cheerleader Shot During Lamar Jackson Heisman Party

Two University of Louisville football players and a female student believed to be a cheerleader were shot early Sunday morning, following an off-campus party to celebrate Lamar Jackson's Heisman Trophy victory. Multiple media outlets report that junior linebacker James Hearns and sophomore linebacker Henry Famurewa, along with the unnamed female student, are recovering.

Police arrived on the scene at around 2 am Sunday morning and detectives later said that two victims were taken to University Hospital via ambulance; a third victim went to Jewish Hospital. Initial reports indicated all three were suffering from non-life threatening gunshot wounds.

WHAS11-TV in Louisville says police are still looking for suspects. WHAS also quoted students who said that the school's campus, the area around it and the city as a whole, can be a scary place. Jayvon Smith, a sophomore, said he lived two doors down from the scene and added "it's always someone who comes from out in the city… but I just think the city of Louisville is really dangerous right now."

UofL senior Darren Bruner agreed with Smith.

"It's not students from campus. It's that U of L is sort of in an unique situation that we're situated in this part of town, not the greatest part, especially on this side of campus and here in old Louisville so we get a lot of people off of the street coming in and intruding on what should be a good time," Bruner said.

This kind of crime is one Bruner knows all too well. He said somebody with a gun walked into his house party after the UofL and Florida State game this fall.

"We got the word and we tried to hurry people out the door before anyone got hurt and next thing you know we actually hear three shots fired from across the street. It was just into the air, but we didn't know if anybody was hurt. So, it's been a scary semester for sure," Bruner said.

The Louisville Courier-Journal recently reported that the city already had reported more homicides than any time in its history since 1960. Another outlet reports that crime in Louisville outpaces the national average.

The improvement of Louisville's football program in recent years brings plenty of good attention to the school and city, and has had some obvious benefits in terms of recruitment; Scout.com ranks Louisville's recruiting as better than that of Florida right now. It can also bring unwanted attention, and worse.