Man jailed after shooting at Tuskegee University says he fired his gun, but denies shooting anyone

A man accused of having a machine gun at Tuskegee University during a hail of gunfire that killed one man and injured at least 16 others, a federal agent said he fired his gun during the shooting but denied pointing it at anyone.

The new details are contained in a recently unveiled federal complaint that describes how an officer ran toward the gunfire. That officer found a body and then saw it Jacques Myrick with a Glock pistol, the complaint states.

Myrick was later questioned by state and federal agents, who asked him if he fired his firearm during the shooting.

“Myrick then admitted to firing the Glock, but denied shooting anyone,” a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent who participated in the interview wrote in the complaint.

Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, is accused of having a weapon with a machine gun conversion device and faces a federal charge of possession of a machine gun. The complaint does not accuse him of shooting anyone. Federal court records do not list attorneys who could speak on Myrick’s behalf, and jail records do not indicate whether he has one.

The complaint also describes the chaotic scene and how Myrick was captured.

A Tuskegee police officer, one of the first to respond to reports about gunshots on campusimmediately heard the gunfire, but was unable to drive his patrol car through a parking lot because it was so crowded with people and cars, according to court records.

Officer Alan Ashley then exited his car and ran toward the gunfire, quickly finding a man dead from a gunshot wound, the complaint said. Ashley then saw Myrick, armed with a Glock pistol, and took him into custody, the complaint said.

The city official also handed the gun to the special agent who wrote the complaint.

“During a field investigation, I discovered that the pistol functioned as a machine gun,” the federal agent wrote.

Myrick told officers that he had come from his home in Montgomery to the Tuskegee campus “looking for a party” and that he was with some friends when the shooting began.

He said he bought the Glock at a pawn shop in Tampa, Florida, and then bought a machine gun conversion device from a seller he met through the online site Discord, the complaint said. Myrick said he had the package delivered to a vacant home and installed the device on his gun.

The shooting occurred as the school’s 100th homecoming week was coming to an end. A dozen victims were struck by gunfire, while the others were injured as they tried to escape the chaotic scene, authorities said. Many of the injured were students.

The slain man was identified as 18-year-old La’Tavion Johnson of Troy, Alabama, who was not a student, the local coroner said.

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 shooting is the latest case in which a “machine gun conversion device” has been found, something law enforcement officials across the country have done have expressed serious concerns about. The spread of these types of weapons is made possible by small pieces of metal or plastic that are made with a 3D printer or ordered online.

Weapons with conversion mechanisms have been used in several mass shootings, including one that left four dead Sweet Sixteen party in Alabama last year and another that killed six people bar district in Sacramento, California.

“It takes two or three seconds to put some of these devices in a firearm to instantly turn that firearm into a machine gun,” said Steve Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in AP’s report on the weapons earlier this year.

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. Montgomery Advertiser reported.

About 3,000 students attend 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.