It happened on St. Patrick's day when a meteorology student at WKU was shot and killed by police after helping a friend rob a bank in Gallatin, Tennessee.

As Rachel Collier explains, students say they were in disbelief when they heard the news.

20 year old David Cotton robbed a bank dressed as a leprechaun. The driver of the get-a-way car was WKU student Jonathan Ryan Skinner. Students on campus call it bizarre and shocking.

It's like something you'd see on TV, a bizarre bank robbery, a get-a-away car, and a shoot-off with police.

"To know that they were part of a bank robbery and a shoot-out it's kind of something you'd think you would only see in movies, it's not something you'd think would happen in real life, let alone to somebody who goes to school at Western," said Jake Boswell, a freshman at WKU.
He calls it "crazy" that he lived in the same dorm hall as Jonathan Skinner, who was living a different life outside of college.

"To know that someone was living that close was doing extracurricular activities, like robbing a bank was pretty crazy," said Boswell, "and then you know, being a college student, all that's on my mind is just school, and hanging out on the weekends and stuff like that, and I would never think that someone here would do something like that."

Skinner's facebook has been flooded with messages, some in shock, others mad.

"My denial and shock have turned into anger. What were you thinking?" wrote one facebook friend.

Others posting on his page described him as bright, gentle, funny, and humble.

An acquaintance of Skinner says he was a quiet guy who liked to joke around.

Jeremy Brown played with Skinner on the school's frisbee team.

"We have frisbee practice Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and he was out there pretty consistently, so, spent a lot of time with him, didn't know him real well but played a lot of frisbee with him," said Brown.

He says Skinner had fun, but hadn't been around much this semester.

"We played volleyball over at the Preston center a couple times this semester, but he hasn't been around much this semester."

A fellow teammate involved in such a twisted and dangerous crime is something hard to grasp. "sense of disbelief, I mean I didn't believe it," said Brown.

And it's left the rest of campus in awe. "It's just pretty shocking to be honest," said Boswell.