The deadly shooting at Tuskegee University left terrified students running for their lives

TUSKEGEE, Alabama – Tuskegee University student Sid Guynn hid under a car when he heard the gunshots that ripped through his Alabama campus during homecoming celebrations, then ran back to his dorm, scared by what sounded to him like a machine gun .

“It was terrifying; I couldn’t find my phone or my brother,” Guynn said. His brother is not a university student, he said, and was visiting when students ducked to the ground or ran for their lives from the barrage of gunfire.

The shooting early Sunday left one man dead and at least 16 other people injured, a dozen of them by gunfire, authorities said. Hours later, an arrest was announced. Many of the injured were students.

The man killed in the shooting during homecoming weekend at Tuskegee University has been identified as 18-year-old La’Tavion Johnson of Troy, Alabama, who was not a student, the local coroner said Monday.

Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, was taken into custody as he left the scene of the campus shooting and was found with a handgun with a machine gun conversion device, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Myrick faces a federal charge of possession of a machine gun, the agency said in a statement. It did not charge him with using the gun in the shooting or provide any 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 ended.

It was not immediately known if Myrick had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail, online booking records show.

Twelve people were injured by gunfire, and four others suffered injuries unrelated to the gunfire, the state agency said. Several were 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, but Macon County Coroner Hal Bentley said he understands at least one of the injured is in critical condition.

The FBI joined the investigation and said it was looking for tips from the public, as well as any video witnesses. It has set up an online site where people can 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 will be available in the university chapel to help students.

Guynn, 18, said group chats at school are filled with messages of support for the injured victims, whom he said he knows personally. He came to Tuskegee from his home in Iowa this year because he wanted to learn in a close-knit black community, he said.

“Tuskegee, it feels like a family here,” Guynn said, adding that “everyone is connected.”

The shooting left the entire university community shocked, said Amare’ Hardee, a senior from Tallahassee, Florida, who is president of the student body.

“This senseless act of violence has affected us all, directly or indirectly,” he said during the school assembly on Sunday morning.

Sunday’s shooting comes just over a year after four people were injured in a shooting at a student complex at Tuskegee University. Two campus visitors were shot and two students were injured as they tried 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, located about 40 miles east of Montgomery, Alabama’s capital.

The university was the first historically black university to be designated a registered national monument in 1966. It was also designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974, according to the school’s website.

Guynn said he hopes increased security will prevent future gun violence on campus. He also said he doesn’t want national attention to define the school and community he loves.

“When something like this happens, it’s nothing like Tuskegee,” he said.

— The Associated Press