Police hunt suspects in Tennessee college shooting; one dead

[October 24, 2015]  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - Police said on Friday they had recovered a pistol and were looking for suspects after gunfire erupted on the campus of Tennessee State University in Nashville, killing one man.

The shooting, which occurred just before 11 p.m. local time on Thursday, stemmed from a dispute over a dice game during a student gathering in an outdoor courtyard that escalated into a physical fight, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said. The pistol was recovered in the immediate area.

The man who died was identified by police as Cameron Selmon, 19, of Memphis.

University President Glenda Glover in a statement said she was shaken by the "heinous crime," which she said involved two men not enrolled in the school.

The incident was isolated to the courtyard and there was no known threat to students in dormitories or elsewhere on campus, police said.

There have been several incidents of gun violence at or near U.S. schools in October, including deadly episodes on the campus of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and adjacent to Texas Southern University in Houston.

Last week, three people were shot and wounded during a large house party near the Tennessee State University campus.

On Oct. 1, a gunman killed nine people at a community college in Oregon, ranking it among the deadliest of dozens of U.S. mass shootings over the past two years.

In Thursday's shooting, two 18-year-old female students were wounded as innocent passersby, police said. Both were treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and released with injuries that were not life threatening, according to the police and Glover.

A third 18-year-old female student suffered "a very minor graze" and did not need medical treatment, police said.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots, and several students who witnessed the altercation recorded it on cell phones, police said. Glover also required all students to visibly wear their university-issued identification while on campus and said weapons are prohibited on campus.

Police urged those with cellphone images or recordings to share them with detectives working to catch the person or people "who indiscriminately placed people in danger by firing shots."

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles, Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago and Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Tennessee; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Diane Craft)

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