A person is dead and 16 are hurt after a shooting at Tuskegee
University; 1 arrest made
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[November 11, 2024]
By JEFF MARTIN
ATLANTA (AP) — A shooting early Sunday during homecoming weekend at
Tuskegee University in Alabama left one person dead and injured 16
others, a dozen of them by gunfire, authorities said. One arrest was
announced hours later.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Jaquez Myrick, 25, of
Montgomery, was taken into custody while leaving the scene of the campus
shooting and had been found with a handgun with a machine gun conversion
device. The agency said in a statement that Myrick faces a federal
charge of possession of a machine gun. It did not accuse him of using
the gun in the shooting or provide additional 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. Authorities said an 18-year-old man
who died was not a university student but that some of the injured were
students.
It was not immediately known if Myrick had an attorney who could speak
on his behalf.
Twelve people were wounded by gunfire, and four others sustained
injuries not related to the gunshots, 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.
The FBI joined the investigation and said it was seeking tips from the
public, as well as any video witnesses might have. It set up a site
online for people to upload video. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives also was involved in the investigation, a local
prosecutor said.
Tuskegee University canceled classes Monday and said grief counselors
will be available in the university's chapel to help students.
The parents of the victim were notified, and an autopsy was planned at
the state's forensic center in Montgomery, Macon County Coroner Hal
Bentley told The Associated Press.
Tuskegee city's police chief, Patrick Mardis, said the injured included
a female student who was shot in the stomach and a male student who was
shot in the arm.
City police were responding to an unrelated double shooting off campus
when officers got the call about the university shooting at the West
Commons on-campus apartments, Mardis said.
“Some idiots started shooting,” Mardis told the news site Al.com. “You
couldn’t get the emergency vehicles in there, there were so many people
there.”
A person who answered the phone at Mardis' office said no other
information was available.
In his 37 years as coroner, Bentley said he couldn’t recall any
shootings during the school’s past homecoming celebrations. The mood
around the small town of around 9,000 people was somber, he said.
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This image taken from video provided by WSFA shows people standing
near the scene of an earlier shooting at Tuskegee University,
Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, in Tuskegee, Ala. (WSFA via AP)
The shooting left everyone in the university community shaken, said
Amare’ Hardee, a senior from Tallahassee, Florida, who is president
of the student government association.
“This senseless act of violence has touched each of us, whether
directly or indirectly,” he said at the school's homecoming
convocation Sunday morning.
A pastor who leads the Tuskegee National Alumni Association told
those at the convocation service that the shooting is a reminder of
the fragility of life.
“It is in moments like these that we need to be reminded not to
stand on our own understanding because in a moment like this, I
don’t have understanding,” said the Rev. James Quincy III.
“I can only rely on my faith, and my prayer for our entire family,
this community, as we close out this marvelous family reunion that
we shared this week," Quincy said, "and most importantly because of
that faith walk and that trust in God, that we have resilience,
resilience in the time of trouble.”
Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama — the school's opponent for
Tuskegee's homecoming football game on Saturday — released a
statement expressing sympathy.
“Today, our hearts are with the Tuskegee family as they face the
tragic aftermath of the recent shooting on campus,” the college
said. “We extend our deepest condolences to those impacted and pray
for healing and justice. Miles College stands with you in this
difficult time.”
Sunday's shooting comes just over a year after four people were
injured in a shooting at a Tuskegee University student housing
complex. Two visitors to the campus were shot and two students were
hurt while trying to leave the scene of what campus officials
described as an “unauthorized party” in September 2023, the
Montgomery Advertiser reported.
About 3,000 students are enrolled at the university about 40 miles
(64 kilometers) east of Alabama's capital city of Montgomery.
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.
Norma Clayton, chairwoman of the board of the trustees, said at the
Sunday morning service that “we will get through this together
because in tough times, tough people band together and they
survive."
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