A Morehouse College student is facing felony charges and possible suspension after a video surfaced of him attacking a Clark Atlanta University junior. The attack occurred near some apartments off the campus of Atlanta due to a minor dispute. This has brought up new ideas about keeping campuses safe; both colleges have commented.
The shooting occurred on the night of Nov. 20, 2025 outside The Legacy at Centennial Apartments, next to the Atlanta University Center and across the street from a Georgia State University shuttle stop. Kayla Bryant, 23, a criminal justice junior from Clark Atlanta University was approached by Matthew Dave Gonzales Forestine, 21, a junior from Morehouse College and football defensive back with jersey number 25.
A tweet from X.
The fracas started when Forestine, while leaving the shuttle, stepped onto Bryant’s shoe. She requested an apology but matters quickly escalated. Bryant’s girlfriend, a Georgia State University student whose name has not been released, shoved Bryant in the face. Forestine seized Bryant by the throat, picked her up and slammed her into a wall.
While choking her, Forestine shouted, “Call 12!” street slang for calling the police along with
“I’ll get your body today!” and “I promise you I’ll kill you right now!”
Onlookers present numbered around eight to ten, mostly recording on their phones. Only one of them intervened to stop it, and that occurred after twenty to thirty seconds.
Bryant suffered scratches to the face, a contusion of the knee, and difficulty swallowing. She was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for examination and returned to her home that night.
A couple of videos really pushed this story out there. One’s a 3-minute, 1-second clip on X put up by Raindrops Media. It’s got over 2 million views and edits together the attack footage, slow-mo replays, mugshots, some birthday stuff, and text overlays like “Happy Birthday Victim” plus a nod to Genesis 1:27, that Bible verse about human worth.
The other is the unedited 3-minute, 57-second video Bryant herself posted on TikTok on November 21. That’s racked up more than 4.5 million views. She narrates the whole chokehold and the threats, shows her injuries too. It starts with her saying,
“Hello, my name is Kayla Bryant and I was just attacked outside of my building in Atlanta. I go to Clark Atlanta University.”
On November 24, 2025, Atlanta cops arrested Forestine and booked him into Fulton County Jail around 6:12 p.m. He’s charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats, both felonies, and his bond’s set at $30,000, which he hasn’t paid yet.
The president at Morehouse, Kevin M. Young, put out a statement slamming the violence and saying it doesn’t belong there. They’ve already pulled Forestine from football, and they’re looking into discipline. Over at CAU, they sent out a safety notice, they’re checking on shuttle security and off-campus stuff, and they’re helping Bryant out.
For her 23rd birthday on November 23, Bryant shared a video of herself digging into steak and lobster, tiara on her head. She sounded thankful, saying things like,
“Hi guys. It’s Kayla and it’s my 23rd birthday. And I’m eating a 14 ounce dry rib steak. Then I had lobster cocktail… And I am very grateful that I was able to take myself out to dinner… Cheers!”
It’s a strong show of bouncing back, and it’s pulled in over 1.4 million views.
The Atlanta University Center has more than 10,000 students, and talks about safety keep coming up, especially with the city’s challenges. Last year, Atlanta had over 5,000 aggravated assaults, and HBCUs see more violent crimes according to 2023 FBI numbers. Across the country, RAINN says one in five women in college deals with some kind of assault.
What follows may be a bond hearing, more serious charges, a response from the school’s disciplinary board, or even a civil suit. Cases like this still demonstrate the greater training necessary for effective interventions and the even stronger protections against violence against women, according to reports from groups like RAINN (rainn.org).
