Mass Shooting at Tuskegee University Homecoming Kills 1, Injures 16: What We Know Today

by Junna Base November 11, 2024

An unsanctioned party at an apartment on Tuskegee University’s campus ended in horror early Sunday morning when dozens of shots were fired at the historically black university, leaving one person dead and 16 others injured.

The shooting occurred as Tuskegee’s 100th homecoming week was coming to a close. His football team had played that Saturday against Fairfield-based HBCU Miles College.

It is not yet clear what led to the shooting, which sent a large crowd into an uproar and was captured on several videos posted on social media.

The severity of the injuries suffered by the twelve gunshot victims and the four other injured people in the ensuing chaos is also unknown.

Here’s what we know today.

Macon County Coroner Hal Bentley identified the person killed as Latavion Johnson. The 18-year-old lived in Troy and was not a Tuskegee student.

Tuskegee Police Chief Patrick Mardis, the campus’s former police chief, said Sunday morning that a female student was shot in the stomach. “I helped load them up,” he said.

A male student was shot in the arm, Mardis said.

The injured were taken to East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika and Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery for treatment.

Little is currently known about Johnson and those injured.

Who are the suspects?

No one has been charged with Johnson’s death or the injuries to the 16 people injured in the incident.

On Sunday, 25-year-old Jaquez Myrick of Montgomery was arrested for possession of a handgun with a machine gun conversion device. Authorities said Myrick was caught leaving the scene of the shooting and was charged federally with possession of a machine gun.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which is conducting the investigation, is asking for the public’s assistance in this case.

Anyone with information is asked to submit tips at 1-800-CALL-FBI and upload videos or photos at fbi.gov/tuskegeeshooting24.

Authorities have not released a motive, identified a suspect or said what might have led to the shooting.

The gunfire erupted shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday in apartments on the West Commons campus.

Social media videos showed people hiding behind cars and fleeing the sound of rapid gunfire.

“Just stay down,” a young man shouted. “They don’t shoot.”

“What the hell is going on?” a man was heard saying. “They’re still shooting,” another woman could be heard saying, screaming in the background.

How unusual is this in Tuskegee?

Bentley told the Associated Press that in his 37 years as a coroner, he could not recall any shootings at the school’s past homecoming ceremonies.

Mardis said he lived in fear of a shooting on campus when he led the university police department.

“When I was there I was always nervous. You see it happening everywhere. It happened everywhere but us.”

Sunday’s shooting came a little more than a year after four people were injured as they left an “unauthorized party” in a shooting at a Tuskegee University student housing complex in September 2023.

Tuskegee University was founded in 1881 by Dr. Booker T. Washington and currently has approximately 3,000 enrollees. The university was the first historically black college to be designated a Registered National Landmark in 1966. It was also designated a National Historic Site in 1974, according to the school’s website.

What are people saying?

Shomari Figures, the newly elected congressman who represents Alabama’s District 2, said he and his wife are praying for the victims.

“Gun violence tears too many communities apart and costs far too many lives, especially the lives of young Black people,” Figures said. “We must all work together to put an end to this, and I will work diligently to provide resources to address both the root causes and those who commit gun crimes.”

Miles College said in a news release that “our hearts go out to the Tuskegee family as they face the tragic consequences.”

At a church service Sunday morning, Student Government Association President Amare’ Hardee expressed his condolences to the shooting victims.

“This senseless act of violence has touched each of us, directly or indirectly. We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their families and are united in our commitment to support each and every one of us,” said Hardee.

“We will get through this together,” added Norma B. Clayton, chair of the Tuskegee University Board of Trustees. “We have survived for 143 years. I think we can survive even better.”

Associated Press and AL.com reporters Ruth Serven Smith and Kayode Crown contributed to this report.

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