close
close

Association-anemone

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

Tuskegee University shooting: 1 dead, several injured in chaotic scene
asane

Tuskegee University shooting: 1 dead, several injured in chaotic scene

One person was killed on the Tuskegee University campus after dozens of shots were fired early Sunday morning following the historically Black university’s 100th homecoming.

The person who was killed was not associated with the university, according to Tuskegee spokeswoman Thonnia Lee.

Several other people, including Tuskegee students, were injured and are being treated at East Alabama Medical Center and Baptist South Hospital. The severity of their injuries was not immediately known.

See also: Tuskegee homecoming footage captured on chilling video

Macon County Coroner Hal Bentley said “quite a few people” were injured, but he did not know the exact number. Bentley said he could not yet release information about the person killed.

A female student was shot in the stomach, Tuskegee Police Chief Mardis said. “I helped her load.” One student was shot in the arm, and Mardis said he did not have information on a third person who was injured.

In videos on social media, rapid gunfire can be heard as people crouch on the ground and behind cars at West Commons.

City police were on the scene of an unrelated double shooting in which two people suffered minor injuries at a Texaco station when officers received the call about the shooting at the West Commons apartments on campus, Mardis said.

“Some idiots started shooting,” Mardis said of the campus shootings. “You couldn’t get the emergency vehicles in there, there were so many people there.”

Tuskegee celebrated its 100th homecoming on Saturday. He played at Miles College, which said in a statement Sunday morning that “our hearts go out to the Tuskegee family as they deal with the tragic aftermath.”

Emergency responders, along with campus and local law enforcement, secured the scene. The State Bureau of Investigation is conducting an active investigation.

According to Lee, the University is in the process of finalizing student accountability and notifying parents.

No one is in custody and it was not immediately clear what led to the shooting, Mardis said.

“It’s horrible,” said Mardis, who is the former campus police chief.

Mardis said he lived in fear of a campus shooting when he led the university’s police department.

“I was always on pins and needles when I was there. You see it happening everywhere. It happened everywhere but us.”

This story will be updated with more information.