Tuskegee University shooting witnesses describe running from gunfire

What started as a joyous weekend to celebrate Tuskegee University’s centennial homecoming, within seconds, descended into violent tragedy early Sunday.

As successive gunshots rang out early Sunday morning in a parking lot at Tuskegee University in Alabama, Kierra Talley thought she was going to die. Talley, a junior at Alabama State University, was visiting Tuskegee with friends to celebrate the historically Black college’s centennial homecoming celebration when, she said, chaos erupted.

“It was people shooting back at each other — whether it was in the crowd, outside of the crowd, inside of a dormitory — people were shooting,” said Talley, 20, who added that she saw at least four gunmen with “heavy ARs” and guns with “switches,” a small device that turns a semiautomatic gun into a fully automatic firearm.

“This wasn’t one person,” she said. “I describe it as a massacre.”

One person was fatally shot in the ordeal and at least 16 others were injured, including a dozen with gunshot wounds, according to local police. The person killed was 18-year-old La’Tavion Johnson, the local coroner said Monday. He was not a student at Tuskegee, the university said in a statement.

Videos circulating on social media show what appears to be a portion of the gunfire as dozens of people ran behind cars to take cover, some attempting to sprint to safety and others jumping to the ground. The beginning of the first shooting video in one X post captured what sounded like one shot after another initially, until seconds later there was a steady stream of gunfire that appeared to come from multiple guns lasting several minutes.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/tuskegee-university-mass-shooting-homecoming-weekend-rcna179632

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