Arrest made in shooting at Tuskegee University that leaves one dead and 16 injured: NPR

According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, authorities are investigating a shooting that occurred early Sunday during homecoming ceremonies on the campus of Tuskegee University in the city of Tuskegee, Alabama, in which one person was killed and 16 were injured.

Jaquez Myrick, a 25-year-old from Montgomery, Alabama, was seen leaving the scene of the shooting carrying a handgun with a machine gun conversion device, the agency said in a statement. Myrick was arrested and charged with possession of a machine gun.

The university said law enforcement secured the scene and ALEA’s Bureau of Investigations opened an investigation.

An 18-year-old died at the scene of the accident. Twelve of the injured victims sustained gunshot wounds and were taken to area hospitals in Montgomery and Lee counties. Four other people were not injured by gunfire in the incident.

The person who died was a “non-university individual,” a statement from Tuskegee University said, but some of the injured victims were students at the school.

ALEA said its special agents were notified of the shooting around 1:40 a.m. Sunday.

All classes at the university on Monday were canceled as authorities continue to investigate the incident, the school said. Grief counselors from the university will be available to students in the chapel on Monday, it said.

The shooting occurred as students gathered on the campus of the historically black private university in Macon County on Saturday evening to celebrate Tuskegee University’s 100th homecoming.

The Alabama Bureau of Investigations said it is cooperating with federal, state and local authorities in the investigation.

The incident follows a series of other fatal shootings at homecoming events last month. A shooting during homecoming weekend at Albany State University in Georgia on Oct. 19 left one person dead and several others injured. That same day, three people were killed and eight others injured after shots were fired at a homecoming party in central Mississippi.

On October 12, a shooting near Tennessee State University in Nashville left one person dead and nine others injured following the school’s homecoming celebration.