The shocking shooting spree that left five basketball players wounded on the Duquesne University campus -- one critically -- was an attack on something greater than its unfortunate victims. It was an attack on civilized assumptions.

Young people who go to college are trying to better themselves through discipline and hard work. A school such as Duquesne is a community of decency and respect undergirded by a tradition of faith.

None of that mattered to some shallow thug who reached for a gun and fired shots as if the campus were the Wild West. Casually, unexpectedly, the uncaring face of evil turned hideously to avenge an imagined wrong.

It is hard to know what is more shocking -- the cowardice and callousness of the attack or its unfairness. Nothing the players might have done could justify what happened. Nothing in the past would lead anyone to anticipate the random terror that occurred early Sunday morning after a dance. The Duquesne campus has a reputation of being safe. That Duquesne should find itself in the national headlines for a shooting is its own cruelty. Regrettably, this attack may put off students from considering this good school in a great city.

Fortunately, the school's noble mission and its history of service have lent a sense of perspective. The very randomness of this horrible event underscores its freakishness. Parents and administrators appear not to have been panicked.

As this attack was an affront to all of us, all of Pittsburgh should wish the players and the school well -- and pray that the police bring this assailant to justice.