ATLANTA — A shooting early Sunday during Homecoming weekend at Tuskegee University in Alabama left one person dead and 16 others injured, including a dozen by gunshot wounds, authorities said. An arrest was announced a few hours later.
The Alabama law enforcement agency said Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, was arrested as he left the scene of the campus shooting and was found with a handgun equipped with a machine gun conversion device. The agency said in a statement that Myrick faces a federal charge of possessing a machine gun. He did not accuse him of using the weapon in the shooting and did not 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 drew to a close. Authorities said the 18-year-old man who died was not a university student, but some of the injured were students.
It was not immediately clear whether Myrick had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Twelve people were shot and four others suffered injuries unrelated to the gunfire, 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 information from the public, as well as any video witnesses. 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’s chapel to help students.
The victim’s parents were notified and an autopsy was planned at the state forensic center in Montgomery, Macon County Coroner Hal Bentley told The Associated Press.
Tuskegee City Police Chief Patrick Mardis said the injured included a student who was shot in the stomach and a student who was shot in the arm.
City police were responding to an unrelated double shooting off campus when officers received a call about the university shooting in the West Commons campus apartments, Mardis said.
“Some idiots started shooting,” Mardis told the Al.com news site. “We couldn’t get emergency vehicles in, there were so many people.”
A person who answered the phone at Mardis’ office said no further information was available.
In his 37 years as coroner, Bentley said he doesn’t remember any shootings during recent homecoming celebrations. The mood in this small town of about 9,000 people was grim, he said.
The shooting shook the entire university community, said Amare’ Hardee, a senior from Tallahassee, Fla., who is president of the student government association.
“This senseless act of violence has affected each of us, directly or indirectly,” he said Sunday morning at the graduation ceremony.
A pastor who leads the National Tuskegee Alumni Association told those at the graduation ceremony that the shooting is a reminder of the fragility of life.
“It is at times like these that we must be reminded not to rely on our own understanding, because at a time like this, I have no understanding,” Rev. James said Quincy III.
“I can only count on my faith and my prayer for our entire family, this community, as we close this wonderful family reunion that we shared this week,” Quincy said, “and especially through this march in faith and this trust. in God, that we have resilience, resilience in difficult times.
Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama — the school’s opponent for Tuskegee’s homecoming football game Saturday — released a statement expressing sympathy.
“Today, our hearts go out to the Tuskegee family as they deal with the tragic aftermath of the recent campus shooting,” the college said. “We extend our deepest condolences to those affected and pray for healing and justice. Miles College is with you during this difficult time.
Sunday’s shooting comes a little more than 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 injured as they tried to leave the scene of what campus officials described as an “unsanctioned party” in September 2023, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
About 3,000 students are enrolled at the university located 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.
Norma Clayton, president of the board of trustees, said at Sunday morning service that “we will get through this together because in tough times, tough people come together and survive.”
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