Wildcats Against Violence, a new group that aims to proactively stop violence on and around campus, met last night to brainstorm ideas to educate students on stopping violence before it escalates.

The group was started as a result of the drive-by shooting that took place Sept. 9 outside the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house.

The creator of the group, Steven Morris, a mechanical engineering senior, said he was there to witness the aftermath of the shooting.

“”I showed up around 2 a.m. and saw stuff go down,”” said Morris.

After witnessing the tragedy, he created the Facebook group Wildcats Against Violence that day.

Morris said the group’s main objective will be to educate people about how to de-escalate violent situations and help witnesses to potentially violent situations know how to react.

“”One of our goals will be to talk to people in dorms and fraternities. Just going in to actually talk with people is, I think, one of the best things we can do,”” said Morris.

Morris said he plans to work with the University of Arizona Police Department and other officials on campus to organize events in the future, but the main objective at this point is to achieve club status, said Morris.

Jami Reinsch, administrative vice president for the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, who attended the meeting, said the group could target other clubs that need volunteer hours to form a type of neighborhood watch program.

“”ASUA is supportive of this group because it will help reach out more toward campus safety as a whole,”” said Reinsch.

SafeRide employees also attended the meeting.

“”Every year I’ve been here, it seems like in the first month of school, someone gets shot,”” said Peter Reifsteck, a political science senior and SafeRide supervisor.

Reifsteck said SafeRide could work with the Wildcats Against Violence to help them proactively fight violence on campus so that UAPD would not have to reactively deal with the repercussions of violence.