The university and state authorities say they have detained one suspect in relation to a shooting at Tuskegee University in Alabama early Sunday morning. It has left one person dead and over a dozen others wounded on the final day of homecoming week.
La’Tavion Johnson, 18, of Troy, Alabama, was the victim, the Macon County coroner told CNN over the phone on Sunday.
The institution did not enroll Johnson as a student. In a post on X, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency stated that at least 12 of the 16 people hurt in the incident were caused by gunshots.
Several people, including Tuskegee institution students, were hurt and are being treated at Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery and East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, the institution said.
Authorities did not disclose the precise number of other injured people or their situations.
A news statement on Sunday night stated that Jaquez Myrick, 25, had been taken into custody by authorities in relation to the shooting.
According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Myrick was discovered fleeing the Tuskegee University campus after the shooting.
After his detention, Myrick was charged with possessing a machine gun on a federal level.
Where Myrick is being detained and whether he currently has legal representation are unknown.
CNN has requested additional information from the law enforcement agency. The gun violence archive, which like CNN defines a mass shooting as one that kills or injures four or more people. It excludes the gunman, reports that the shooting is one of at least 454 mass shootings that have occurred in the United States this year.
Tuskegee’s 100th Homecoming Week
On Saturday night, the university hosted a sizable audience to commemorate Tuskegee’s 100th homecoming week.
People are seen running for shelter in a parking lot as gunshots reverberate in a social media video. The Alabama Bureau of Investigations is conducting an investigation, according to the university, and police have “secured the scene.”
Tuskegee University’s president and CEO, Mark Brown, spoke about the incident on Sunday morning during the school’s Homecoming Convocation.
According to Brown, he requested that they join him in a brief moment of silence during which we consider the departed soul and the bereaved parents, relatives, and friends.
All of the parents who have kids there are worried about their kids’ safety, as well as the safety of our students and professors, who might also be grieving right now.
According to the state law enforcement agency, all Monday classes have been canceled as police continue to process the scene. On Monday, students will have access to university grief counselors in the chapel.
The shootings at homecoming ceremonies last month were followed by this occurrence.
On October 19, a shooting at Albany State University following a homecoming game claimed one life and injured several more.
On the same day, bullets were fired at another homecoming gathering outside of Lexington, Mississippi, leaving three people dead and eight injured.
Following the school’s homecoming celebration, a shooting at Tennessee State University in Nashville on October 12 left one man dead and nine others injured.