close
close

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

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.

You may also like...