Authorities claimed that one person was killed and sixteen people were injured in an early Sunday shooting at Tuskegee University in Alabama, with 12 of them being shot.
While several of the injured were college students, the gunshot victim, an 18-year-old guy, was not. No arrests were reported right away.
According to an update released by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on Sunday afternoon, gunfire injured 12 individuals and injured four others in other incidents.
After joining the investigation, the FBI stated that it is looking for public tips and any footage that witnesses may have. It created a website where users could post videos.
The 100th Homecoming Week at the historically Black university was nearing an end when the tragedy occurred. Tuskegee University said that all courses will not be held on Monday. In the university chapel, students may get assistance from grief counselors.
This person’s parents have been informed. Tuskegee University reported in a statement that many additional people, including students, were hurt and are being treated at Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery and East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika.
Macon County Coroner Hal Bentley told The Associated Press on Sunday that the 18-year-old will be autopsied at the state’s forensic lab in Montgomery. According to Patrick Mardis, the city’s police chief, among the wounded were a male student who was shot in the arm and a female student who was hit in the stomach.
According to Mardis, city police received the call on the university shooting in the West Commons on-campus residences as they were responding to an unrelated double shooting off campus.
Mardis told the news website Al.com, “Some idiots started shooting.” “There were so many people there that you couldn’t get the emergency vehicles in.”
The 100th Homecoming Week at the historically Black university was nearing to an end when the tragedy occurred. According to the school statement, the university was informing parents.
No other information was provided, according to a person who answered the phone at the police chief’s office in Tuskegee.
According to a statement from the agency, special agents are currently collecting and reviewing information on the series of events that finally resulted in the shooting.
Bentley claimed he couldn’t remember any gunshots during the school’s previous homecoming festivities in his 37 years as coroner. He described the atmosphere in the little town, which has around 9,000 residents, as solemn.
According to Amare’ Hardee, a senior from Tallahassee, Florida, who serves as president of the student government organization, the incident left the whole campus community in shock.
He stated during the school’s homecoming convocation on Sunday morning that “each of us has been impacted, either directly or indirectly, by this senseless act of violence.”
The incident serves as a reminder of the frailty of life, according to a priest who serves as the head of the Tuskegee National Alumni Association.
The Rev. James Quincy III stated, “I don’t have understanding in a moment like this, so we need to be reminded not to stand on our own understanding.”
“As we wrap up this amazing family reunion that we had this week, I can only rely on my faith and my prayer for our entire family, this community, and most importantly, because of that faith walk and that trust in God, that we have resilience, resilience in time of trouble,” Quincy added.
The school’s opponent for Tuskegee’s homecoming football game on Saturday, Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama, issued a statement expressing condolences.
The college declared, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tuskegee family today as they deal with the devastating fallout from the recent campus shooting.” We offer our sincerest sympathies to all affected and offer up prayers for justice and healing. Miles College supports you at this trying time.
The incident on Sunday occurred a little over a year after a shooting at a student housing complex at Tuskegee University left four people wounded. According to the Montgomery Advertiser, in September 2023, two guests were shot and two students were injured as they attempted to flee the scene of what campus authorities characterized as an “unauthorized party.”
The institution, located 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, is home to roughly 3,000 students.
In 1966, the institution received the distinction of becoming the first historically Black college to be named a Registered National Landmark. The school’s website states that it was also named a National Historic Site in 1974.
“We will get through this together because tough people band together and they survive in tough times,” said Norma Clayton, the chairperson of the board of trustees, at the Sunday morning service.