A shooting near the campus of Florida Agricultural + Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida, has left 11 people with gunshot wounds and another person injured, authorities said. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
The shooting took place near the Florida Agricultural + Mechanical University’s campus on Perry Street on Saturday night, the university said, while police counted six adults and six juveniles among the injured.
“At least three of the shooting victims have sustained serious injuries, while nine others are reported to be in stable condition,” the Tallahassee police said in a statement on Saturday night.
By Sunday morning, five victims had been released from the hospital and one remained in critical condition, according to a social media post by Tallahassee police.
Police said the shooting took place at an intersection near the university’s Bragg stadium just before 8pm, according to a statement made on social media. A homecoming football game had just ended.
Initial findings showed a “physical altercation” took place before the shooting, police said, adding that they were working to identify “those responsible”.
Florida A&M said in a social media post late Saturday night: “The safety and security of our students, faculty, and staff remain our highest priority.”
In a Sunday morning press conference, police chief Lawrence Revell told reporters: “I stand before you devastated.”
“Six of the victims are adults and six of the victims are juveniles. We know that the youngest victim is 11 years old. At least three of our victims have sustained serious injuries and one of those are in critical condition,” he said.
He continued by noting that “preliminary information shows that an altercation occurred between individuals” and that “information is being developed” as his team is “still working the scene”.
“We do not know exactly what happened. Our priority is to determine that, to figure out what happened and why it happened. What we do believe is that this was an isolated incident between two or three individuals and nothing more than that,” he said.
No arrests have been made, Revell said, and police believe only one shooter was involved.
He then praised the officers involved, saying they ran “into the middle of this, still not knowing where the shooters were, still not knowing how many victims we had.”
“We had officers that were picking up victims and carrying them in their arms to transport victims because they couldn’t get through the mass of people,” he said.
Of the victims and their families, Revell said: “we’re thinking of you and we hurt with you.”
“No family should have to experience this kind of violence, this kind of fear, this kind of heartbreak,” he said, before adding that “we do need the community’s help.” He implored anyone with information to “please let us know” and share information at either 850-574-Tips or to the police department directly at 850-891-4200.