Tuskegee University student Sid Guynn hid under a car when he heard gunfire that ripped through his Alabama campus amid homecoming celebrations, then ran back to his dorm, startled by what he thought was a machine gun.

“It was terrifying; I couldn’t find my phone or my brother,” Guynn said. His brother is not a student at the university, he said, and was visiting when the barrage of gunfire sent students diving to the ground or running for their lives.

The shooting left one man dead and injured at least 16 others early Sunday, a dozen of them by gunfire, authorities said. An arrest was announced hours later. Many of the injured were students.

Man killed on homecoming weekend Tuskegee University shooting was identified as La’Tavion Johnson, 18, of Troy, Ala., who was not a student, the local coroner said Monday.

Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, was arrested as he left the scene of the campus shooting and was found with a gun with a machine gun conversion device, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. Myrick faces a federal charge of possession of a machine gun, the agency said in a statement. He did not accuse him of using the gun in the shootings and did not provide further details.

The agency did not say whether Myrick was a student at the historically black university, where the shooting erupted as the school’s 100th homecoming week was winding down.

It was not immediately known if Myrick had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail, online booking records show.

Twelve people were wounded by gunfire and four others suffered injuries unrelated to the shootings, the state agency said. Several were being treated at East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika and Baptist South Hospital in Montgomery, the university said in a statement.

Their conditions were not immediately released, but Macon County Coroner Hal Bentley said he understood at least one of the injured people was in critical condition.

The FBI has joined the investigation and said it is seeking tips from the public, as well as any video witnesses may have. He created an online site for people to upload videos. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also involved in the investigation, a local prosecutor said.

Tuskegee University canceled classes Monday and said grief counselors would be available in the university chapel to help students.

Guynn, 18, said schoolwide group discussions have been filled with messages of support for the injured victims, whom he said he knows personally. He came to Tuskegee this year from his home in Iowa because he wanted to learn in a close-knit black community, he said.

“Tuskegee, it feels like a family here,” Guynn said, adding that “everybody is connected.”

The shooting left the entire university community shaken, said Amare’ Hardee, a senior from Tallahassee, Fla., who is president of the student government association.

“This senseless act of violence has touched each and every one of us, directly or indirectly,” he said at the school’s convocation on Sunday morning.

Sunday’s standoff comes just over a year after four people were injured in a shooting at a Tuskegee University student housing complex. Two campus visitors were shot and two students were wounded as they tried to leave the scene of what campus officials described as an “unauthorized party” in September 2023. Montgomery Advertiser reported.

About 3,000 students are enrolled at the university, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Montgomery, Alabama’s capital.

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.

Guynn said he hopes more security will prevent future gun violence on campus. He also said he doesn’t want national attention to define the school and community he loves.

“For something like this to happen, it’s not like Tuskegee,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Ga., contributed to this report.