After a fatal shooting early Sunday morning at Tuskegee University resulted in calls for stricter security protocols and immediate reform, the historically Black institution is now implementing new safety measures.
The land-grant university – founded by Dr. Booker T. Washington – was winding down from its 100th homecoming anniversary when a gunman opened fire on the school’s main campus in Tuskegee, Alabama. The tragedy resulted in at least 16 injuries, 12 by gunfire and four unrelated to the gunshots, and the death of 18-year-old La’Tavion Johnson of Troy, Alabama, who was not a student, according to the local coroner.
“I have been coming to Tuskegee University homecomings since the 1980s when I was a student. We celebrate our heritage in very soul-steering ways and events that I’m sure not everyone understands,” said university president Mark Brown in a press conference on Monday, Nov. 11. “Nothing we do in any way is associated with violence.”
Tuskegee University is no longer an open campus, Brown said, and requires ID to be shown at all times to enter the grounds and facilities. Further, on Monday and Tuesday, the campus was closed.
The CEO shared that the new campus security chief, who was appointed Monday morning, would be conducting a full review, including all implementations of new security procedures.
The university is also holding in-person and virtual grief counseling for students, parents, faculty and staff to ensure an open relationship and opportunity to ask questions in the continued investigation process, which involves the Alabama Bureau of Investigations in cooperation with federal, state and local authorities.
The calls for campus adjustments came after police responded to reports of gunshots on the Mason County campus around 1:40 a.m., authorities said. Those injured by gunfire were taken to hospitals in Montgomery and Lee counties.
Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, was taken into custody while leaving the campus shooting and faces a federal charge of possession of a machine gun. On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that Myrick told a federal agent that he fired his weapon during the shooting, but denied aiming at anyone.
In the briefing, Brown emphasized the administration’s commitment to campus safety, including “hiring over 70 additional law enforcement officers with authority for crowd control” and implementing “entry checks at all officially sponsored events” over the weeklong festivities.
There were protocols in place for all pre-approved events, Brown said, but the event in which the shooting took place “was not approved in advance, and in no way sanctioned by the university.”
“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.”
As outpours of support and firsthand video accounts flood the #tuskegeeuniversity thread on X (formerly known as Twitter), students like senior psychology major Salihah Israel have taken to social media to voice their outrage over the institution’s “incompetencies” amid the circumstances.
In a personal statement posted on X, Instagram and Facebook, Israel responded to university officials after a parent town hall meeting Monday evening, where, according to the post, “inappropriate” statements were made about the measures of safety on campus and among students.
“As students we can’t control who comes onto campus nor who brings weapons onto the campus, that is the job of the university and officers,” Israel said in the statement. “Considering that homecoming is one of the biggest events Tuskegee has during the academic year, there should be better measures in place to prevent incidents like this. Considering that a shooting on campus isn’t new to the university, better measures should’ve been taken to ensure our safety.”
Israel refers to a shooting that took place just over a year ago at a Tuskegee University student housing complex, where four students were injured, two of them shot, while trying to leave what campus officials called an “unauthorized party” in September 2023, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. The gunman was not university-affiliated.
The statement goes on to add a list of demands on behalf of the senior and others who, according to the post, have been “asking for better security for years,” particularly against bothersome locals. The demands advocate for car searches, campus fixtures, stricter identification methods, and better use and access to resources, to name a few.
Israel also recommended that the university switch to virtual modality for the remainder of the semester.
Though it is unclear if the enhanced safety protocols that resulted from the shooting, along with the decision to close Tuskegee University to the public, is permanent, Brown reassured in his statement that the institution has “no plans” to change the annual homecoming tradition.
“Students are our greatest asset, and we will do everything possible to protect them,” he said. “Mother Tuskegee has been serving students and changing their lives for the betterment of some 143 years, we remain resolute to safely continue that mission.”
