As gunshots rang out early Sunday morning in a parking lot at Alabama’s Tuskegee University, Kierra Talley thought she was going to die. Talley, a student at Alabama State University, was visiting Tuskegee with friends to celebrate the centennial celebration of the historically Black college’s homecoming when, she said, chaos erupted.

“There were people shooting each other — whether it was in the crowd, outside the crowd, inside a dorm — people were shooting,” said Talley, 20, who added that he saw at least four men armed with “Heavy ARs”. ” and “switch” pistols, a small device that turns a semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic firearm.

“It wasn’t just one person,” she said. “I describe it as a massacre.”

One person was fatally shot during the attempt and at least 16 others were injured, including a dozen with gunshot wounds, according to local police. The person killed was 18-year-old La’Tavion Johnson, the local coroner said Monday. He was not a student at Tuskegee, the university said in a statement.

videos circulating on social networks shows what appears to be some of the gunfire as dozens of people ran behind cars for cover, some trying to sprint to safety and others jumping to the ground. early first video shot in an X post captured what sounded like one shot after another initially, until a few seconds later there was a steady stream of gunfire that seemed to come from multiple guns lasting several minutes.

Classes were canceled for students on Monday and Tuesday and grief counselors were provided.

In a news conference Monday, Tuskegee University President and CEO Mark Brown said the school community is “dismayed by what happened,” adding that while the block party was an unsanctioned event, the school take “full responsibility”. He noted that going forward, the university will be closed to anyone who is not a student, faculty or staff member.

University officials declined to provide NBC News with any further comment on the shooting or the investigation.

Police arrested Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery and charged him with possession of a machine gun, the Alabama law enforcement agency said. press release. It was unclear if Myrick was a student. He was arrested as he tried to leave the scene, but the agency has not said if he is a suspect in the shooting. As of Tuesday afternoon, he remains in the Montgomery County Jail in the custody of US Marshals, officials said. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

In a recently filed federal complaint, according to Associated PressMyrick told federal agents he fired his gun, but denied shooting anyone.

The agency said it has no additional information to provide at this time. The FBI has also joined the investigation into the shootings and is asking the public for tips and set up a website to accept videos and images about the incident.

The celebration turned into tragedy

According to Talley, people gathered in the parking lot for the school’s annual party, which marks the last big gathering of homecoming weekend. They were a record 47,000 participants to the football game just hours earlier on campus, and hundreds, including children, stayed on campus dancing to music from car speakers and enjoying drinks late into the night.

Around midnight, Talley said she saw a small fight break out between several people, which she said sent some people running for safety. But once the fight ended, Talley said things calmed down and after a while more people gathered in the parking lot. Although not confirmed by law enforcement, Talley believes the fight was a precursor to the shooting.

About an hour later, the first sounds of gunfire rang out, Talley recalled, as she hid behind her car fearing for her life. One of her friends, who goes by the name Tony P., she said, was shot twice and remains in the hospital as of Tuesday. Talley estimates the gunfire went on for at least eight minutes before he saw the first officer on the scene. Another 15 to 20 minutes passed, she said, before she saw more officers.

The constant stream of gunfire made the minutes seem like an eternity, she said.

“Seeing and hearing how close they were was very traumatic,” Talley said, “especially because there were shooters everywhere.”

The closest hospitals to which the victims were transported were more than 25 miles away – East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Alabama, which is a 30-minute drive from campus, and Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, which is almost an hour away.

Talley said she saw people bleeding at the scene, and when she went to visit her friend at Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery that night, she said she saw people with gunshot wounds on trays waiting for medical attention.

“The medical service here is not up to par,” she said, adding that “people can’t afford to have medical care. … It’s traumatic and we’re expected to be there and be strong.”

With a population of 9,000, the city of Tuskegee has a median household income of $32,000. One in three residents lives in poverty. Ninety percent of the community is black and about 8 percent white, according to recent census data. About 2,900 students are enrolled at the university.

First, Tuskegee’s Joaquin Crayton Jr. believes the university bears some responsibility for the shooting and its aftermath, particularly for failing to keep students safe. Crayton said he was on the outskirts of the party when he heard gunshots and ran toward his residence, Banneker Hall. He said he ran there for safety only to find that a gunman was searching the hallways of the dorm for someone.

“When you’re on the run and running for your life, you get a different kind of perspective,” Crayton, 19, said. “I thought I was safe in my dorm. I wasn’t. A man came into our dorm room with a loaded gun and was looking for someone.”

Crayton, an aerospace engineering major, said members of the student body and the school’s president held a virtual town hall Monday to discuss the shooting, but said it went “nowhere,” with students constantly being stopped after trying to talk about their safety. concerns. Crayton said he believed the university had not received information about the number of injured victims and its lapses in student safety last weekend. While the block party event could have been unsanctioned, he said, it happens every year and with the school’s centennial celebration in mind, he believes school management should have been more prepared.

“As a collective, we are angry at what the school is doing,” he said. “It takes a different kind of trauma for the different age groups of 18 to 22 to come together to make sure this never happens again.”

Recent gun violence at HBCU homecomings

Tuskegee isn’t the only HBCU reeling from gun violence during homecoming celebrations. Last month in Nashville, a man was fatally shot and nine others injured, including three children, during the Tennessee State University homecoming parade as two groups exchanged gunfire. At Albany State University in Georgia the following week, one person was fatally shot and four others injured during homecoming weekend. And in the state of Alabama, school officials last month reported shots fired during their homecoming activities, although no injuries were reported.

Fighting back tears, Talley said, “When is it going to stop?”

The business management major blames the Tuskegee shooting on a lack of personal responsibility in the black community; lack of gun reform in Alabama; and too little national media attention mass shootings involving African Americans receive.

“Tuskegee is already a small town,” she said. “If nobody says anything about this town, then this town is just forgotten — in a society where people already want to erase HBCUs and black culture.”

More than 24 hours removed from the experience, Talley said she is filled with mixed emotions.

“I’m angry. i am angry I’m angry,” she said. “I’m thankful it wasn’t me, but I’m beyond upset.”

Less than three months into his college experience, Crayton said he feels let down and that students feel “defeated.”

“Our security failed us, the police failed us, our campus police,” he said. “How many people must die?”