Photo: Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Eleven people were shot on Saturday night near Florida A&M University's Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida, during the university's homecoming weekend, police said. A 12th person, a victim's grandmother, was injured while fleeing the scene.
The shooting happened on Perry Street near the stadium just before 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 24. Arkansas-Pine Bluff had just beaten the Rattlers 31-28 in the homecoming game at Bragg Memorial Stadium, and the shots were reported shortly after the game ended, on a street near the stadium, in the middle of homecoming weekend. The game had been a close one, decided by three points, and it had ended only a short time before the first reports of shots on Perry Street.
Police: an altercation came first
Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said preliminary information indicates that a physical altercation between two or three individuals preceded the shooting. He called it an isolated incident. No arrests had been made, and the police department's Violent Crimes Unit is investigating.
"I stand before you tonight devastated," Revell said. "It is especially heartbreaking to know that children are among those injured."
Revell's account is, for now, the fullest official picture of what happened. He stressed that the information is preliminary: investigators are still working out exactly what passed between the two or three people involved in the altercation, and how it turned into gunfire. What officials have emphasized is the nature of the incident itself — the chief called it isolated, and the university has said its campus remains safe.
Children among the injured
In total, 12 people were injured. Eleven of them suffered gunshot wounds; the 12th, a victim's grandmother, was injured as she fled. Police, counting everyone who was hurt, said six adults and six juveniles were among the injured.
Half of those hurt were juveniles. It was that detail — children among the injured, the youngest of them 11 years old — that Chief Revell singled out when he addressed the public on Saturday night.
The youngest person shot was 11 years old. Three of the victims were seriously injured, one was in critical condition, and eight were stable. One of the victims is a student at Florida A&M.
University and city respond
Florida A&M issued a campus safety alert at about 8:40 p.m., advising people to shelter in place and avoid the area around Perry Street. The university said it was aware of the incident near campus, said its hearts go out to the victims, and said the campus remains safe.
Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey, writing on X, called the shooting a "truly horrific and heartbreaking tragedy" and said the community stands with the FAMU family.
The official response came in layers through the evening: a police chief at a late-night briefing describing an isolated incident that began as an altercation; a university alert telling people to shelter in place and stay away from the Perry Street area; and a mayor telling the city, in his words, that the community stands with the FAMU family.
What happens next
For now, the central facts are these: 11 people shot and one more person hurt while fleeing, on Perry Street near Bragg Memorial Stadium, just before 8 p.m. on the Saturday of homecoming weekend, shortly after Arkansas-Pine Bluff's 31-28 win over the Rattlers. Police say an altercation between two or three people came first, and the chief has described the shooting as an isolated incident.
What remains unknown is who fired the shots and why. Police have announced no arrests, and the Violent Crimes Unit's investigation is continuing.
Sources: Reuters, CNN, USA Today