Tuskegee University announced this week that it will no longer be an open campus after a mass shooting marred the school's Homecoming celebration over the weekend.
One person was killed and 16 others were injured in the mass shooting during the school's 100th Homecoming celebration. La'Tavion Johnson, 18, was killed but was not a student at the school.
“Effective immediately, everyone will be required to show a university ID to enter campus,” Tuskegee University president Mark Brown said in a statement. “Students, faculty, and staff must wear their IDs at all times while on campus. The university says for those who don’t have one, the team in the Public Safety building across from the main gate will be able to provide one."
The Associated Press reported that Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, was taken into custody while leaving the scene of the campus shooting and had been found with a handgun with a machine gun conversion device, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. Myrick faces a federal charge of possession of a machine gun, the agency said in a statement. It did not accuse him of using the gun in the shooting or provide additional details.
"An annual Homecoming is something we have been doing for 100 years. It is a tradition at many schools and especially so at historically Black colleges and universities,” Brown said. “We have no plans to change that tradition.”
Four people went to the hospital with non-shooting-related injuries, while 12 others were hit by bullets.
“We did not nor could we have planned for security at an event that was not approved in advance or officially sanctioned by the university,” Brown said. “Nonetheless, it happened on our campus, and we take full responsibility for allowing a thorough investigation and implementing corrective actions.”
