As successive gunshots rang out early Sunday morning in a parking lot at Tuskegee University in Alabama, Kierra Talley thought she was going to die. Talley, a junior at Alabama State University, was visiting Tuskegee with friends to celebrate the historically Black college’s centennial homecoming celebration when, she said, chaos erupted.
“It was people shooting back at each other — whether it was in the crowd, outside of the crowd, inside of a dormitory — people were shooting,” said Talley, 20, who added that she saw at least four gunmen with “heavy ARs” and guns with “switches,” a small device that turns a semiautomatic gun into a fully automatic firearm.
“This wasn’t one person,” she said. “I describe it as a massacre.”
One person was fatally shot in the ordeal 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 media show what appears to be a portion of the gunfire as dozens of people ran behind cars to take cover, some attempting to sprint to safety and others jumping to the ground. The beginning of the first shooting video in one X post captured what sounded like one shot after another initially, until seconds later there was a steady stream of gunfire that appeared to come from multiple guns lasting several minutes.
Classes were canceled for students 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 “heartbroken by what happened,” adding that though the block party was an unsanctioned event, the school takes “full responsibility.” He noted that moving forward the university would be closed to anyone who was not a student, faculty or staff member.
University officials declined to provide NBC News any further comment on the shooting or investigation.
Police arrested 25-year-old Jaquez Myrick of Montgomery and charged him with possession of a machine gun, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said in a news release. It was not clear if Myrick was a student. He was taken into custody while attempting to leave the scene, however, the agency did not say whether he is a suspect in the shooting. As of Tuesday afternoon, he remains in Montgomery County jail under U.S. Marshals custody, officials said. It’s not clear if he has an attorney.
In a newly unsealed federal complaint, according to the Associated Press, Myrick told federal agents that he shot his gun, but denied shooting at anyone.
The agency said it had no additional information to provide at this time. The FBI has also joined the shooting investigation and has asked the public for tips and set up a website to accept videos and images about the incident.
Celebration turned into tragedy
According to Talley, people were gathered in the parking lot for the school’s annual block party, which marks the final large gathering of homecoming weekend. There were a record 47,000 attendees at the football game just hours earlier on campus and hundreds, including children, remained 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 a few people, which, she said, led to some people running for safety. But once the fight ended, Talley said things calmed down and after some time even more people congregated in the parking lot. Though it’s been unconfirmed by law enforcement, Talley believes the fight was a precursor to the shooting.
Tuskegee University homecoming weekend in Alabama.WSFA
About an hour later is when the first sounds of gunfire erupted, Talley recalled, as she hid in her car in fear for her life. One of her friends, who goes by Tony P., she said, was shot twice and as of Tuesday remains in the hospital. Talley estimates the gunfire lasted for at least eight minutes before she saw the first officer on the scene. Another 15 to 20 minutes passed, she said, until she saw additional officers.
The steady stream of gunfire made the minutes feel like an eternity, she said.
“Seeing and hearing how close they were was very traumatic,” Talley said, “especially because it was shooters everywhere.”
The closest hospitals that victims were taken to were more than 25 miles away — East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Alabama, which is a 30-minute drive from the campus, and Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, which is nearly an hour away. Her friend went to Baptist Medical Center.
“The medical service here is not up to par,” she said, adding that “people can’t afford to have health care. … That is traumatizing and we’re expected to be there and be strong.”
With a population of 9,000 residents, the city of Tuskegee has a median household income of $32,000. One in three residents live in poverty. Ninety percent of the community is Black and about 8% white, according to recent census data. About 2,900 students are enrolled at the university.
Tuskegee freshman Joaquin Crayton Jr. believes the university holds some liability for the shooting and its aftermath, particularly in not keeping students safe. Crayton said he was on the outskirts of the party when he heard gunfire and took off running toward his residence hall, Banneker Hall. He said he ran there for safety only to learn that a gunman was searching the dormitory’s hallways for someone.
The scene of a shooting early Sunday during homecoming weekend at Tuskegee University.WSFA
“When you are fleeing and running for your life, you gain a different kind of perspective,” Crayton, 19, said. “I thought I was safe in my dorm. I wasn’t. A man went 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 president held a virtual town hall on Monday to discuss the shooting, but he said it got “nowhere” with students consistently being muted after trying to speak up about their safety concerns. Crayton said he believes the university has not been forthcoming with information about the number of injured victims and its shortcomings in regard to student safety last weekend. Though the block party event may have been unsanctioned, he said, it happens every year and given the school’s centennial celebration, he believes school leadership should have been more prepared.
“As a collective we are pissed off about what the school is doing,” he said. “It takes a different kind of trauma for different age groups of 18- to 22-year-olds to come together to make sure this never happens again.”
Recent gun violence at HBCU homecomings
Tuskegee is not the only HBCU reeling from gun violence during homecoming celebrations. Last month, in Nashville, one man was fatally shot and nine others wounded, including three children, during Tennessee State University’s homecoming parade as two groups traded gunfire. At Albany State University in Georgia the following week, one person was fatally shot and four others injured during homecoming weekend. And at Alabama State, school officials last month reported shots fired during their homecoming activities, though there were no reported injuries.
Fighting back tears, Talley said: “When is it going to stop?”
The business management major blames the Tuskegee shooting on the lack of personal accountability in the Black community; the lack of gun reform in Alabama; and too little national attention that mass shootings involving African Americans get in the media.
“Tuskegee is already a small town,” she said. “If nobody is saying 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 a mix of emotions.
“I’m angry. I’m upset. I’m pissed,” she said. “I’m grateful that it wasn’t me, but I’m beyond pissed.”
Less than three months into his college experience, Crayton said he feels let down and the student body feels “defeated.”
“Our security failed us, the police failed us, our campus police failed us,” he said. “How many people have to die?”
