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 student at Alabama State University, was visiting Tuskegee with friends to celebrate the historically black college’s centennial when, she said, chaos erupted.

“It was people shooting at each other — whether it was in the crowd, outside the crowd, inside a dorm — people were shooting,” said Talley, 20, who added having seen at least four armed men with “heavy ARs”. ” and guns with “switches,” a small device that turns a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic firearm.

“It wasn’t just one person,” she said. “I call it a massacre.”

One person was shot and killed during the ordeal and at least 16 others were injured, including a dozen by gunfire, according to local police. The person killed was La’Tavion Johnson, 18, the local coroner said Monday. He was not a student at Tuskegee, the university said. in a statement.

Videos circulating on social networks show what appears to be some of the gunfire as dozens of people ran behind cars for cover, some attempting to sprint to safety and others jumping to the ground. The beginning of first filming video in an X post captured what looked like one gunshot after another at first, until seconds later there was a steady stream of gunshots that appeared to come from multiple weapons for several minutes.

Classes were canceled for students Monday and Tuesday and grief counselors were made available.

At a news conference Monday, Tuskegee University President and CEO Mark Brown said the school community was “heartbroken by what happened,” adding that while the party neighborhood event was an unauthorized event, the school took “full responsibility.” He stressed that in the future the university would be closed to anyone other than a student, faculty or staff member.

University officials declined to provide NBC News with any further comment on the shooting or the investigation.

Police arrested Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, and charged him with possession of a machine gun, the Alabama law enforcement agency said in a news release. press release. It was unclear whether Myrick was a student. He was taken into custody as he attempted to leave the scene, but the agency did not say whether he was a suspect in the shooting. As of Tuesday afternoon, he remains in the Montgomery County Jail in the custody of U.S. Marshals, officials said. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer.

In a recently unsealed federal complaint, according to the Associated PressMyrick told federal agents he fired his gun, but denied shooting anyone.

The agency said it had no additional information to provide at this time. The FBI also joined the investigation into the shooting and asked the public for tips and create a website to accept videos and images about the incident.

Celebration turned into tragedy

According to Talley, people were gathered in the parking lot for the school’s annual block party, which marks the last big gathering of Homecoming weekend. There was a record 47,000 participants at the football game a few hours earlier on campus and hundreds of people, including children, remained on campus dancing to music from car speakers and having drinks late into the night.

Around midnight, Talley said she saw a small fight break out between a few people, which she said led to some people running for safety. But after the fight was over, Talley said things calmed down and after a while even more people gathered in the parking lot. Although it has not been confirmed by law enforcement, Talley believes the fight was a precursor to the shooting.

About an hour later, the first shots rang out, Talley recalled, as she hid behind her car, fearing for her life. A friend of hers, named Tony P., she said, was shot twice and as of Tuesday was still in the hospital. Talley estimates the gunfire lasted at least eight minutes before he saw the first officer on the scene. 15 to 20 minutes passed, she said, until she saw other officers.

The constant stream of gunshots made those minutes feel like an eternity, she said.

“Seeing and hearing how close they were was very traumatic,” Talley said, “especially because there were shooters everywhere.”

The closest hospitals where the victims were taken were more than 25 miles away: East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Alabama, a 30-minute drive from campus, and Southern Baptist Medical Center in Montgomery, nearly 200 miles away. ‘an hour.

Talley said she saw people bleeding at the scene, and when she went to visit her friend at Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery that night, she said she saw people with gunshot wounds on stretchers waiting for medical care.

“The medical service here is not up to par,” she said, adding that “people cannot afford health care. … It’s traumatic and we’re expected to be there and strong.

With a population of 9,000, the city of Tuskegee has a median household income of $32,000. One in three residents lives in poverty. Ninety percent of the community is black and about 8 percent white, according to recent census data. Approximately 2,900 students are enrolled at the university.

Joaquin Crayton Jr., a freshman at Tuskegee, believes the university bears some responsibility for the shooting and its aftermath, including failing to keep students safe. Crayton said he was on the outskirts of the party when he heard gunshots and ran toward his residence, Banneker Hall. He said he ran there for safety and learned that an armed man was looking for someone in the hallways of the dormitory.

“When you’re fleeing and running for your life, you get a different perspective,” Crayton, 19, said. “I thought I was safe in my dorm. I wasn’t. A man came into our dorm with a loaded gun and was looking for someone.

Crayton, an aerospace engineering student, said student body members and the school president held a virtual town hall Monday to discuss the shooting, but he said it went “nowhere.” with students constantly being muted after trying to talk about their safety. concerns. Crayton said he believes the university failed to provide information on the number of injured victims and student safety deficiencies last weekend. Although this block party may not have been permitted, he said, it happens every year and, given the school’s centennial celebration, he believes the school administration should have been better prepared.

“As a collective, we are upset about what the school is doing,” he said. “It takes a different type of trauma for different age groups of 18 to 22 to come together to make sure this never happens again.”

Recent gun violence during HBCU returns

Tuskegee isn’t the only HBCU to be rocked by gun violence during homecoming celebrations. Last month in Nashville, a man was fatally shot and nine others injured, including three children, during the Tennessee State University homecoming parade as two groups exchanged gunfire. At Albany State University in Georgia the following week, one person was shot and killed and four others injured during the reunion weekend. And in the state of Alabama, school officials last month shots were fired during their activities back home, although no injuries were reported.

Choking back tears, Talley said, “When is this going to stop?

Business management expert attributes Tuskegee shooting to black community’s lack of personal responsibility; the lack of gun reform in Alabama; and too little national attention given to mass shootings involving African Americans in the media.

“Tuskegee is already a small town,” she said. “If no one says anything about this city, then this city is just forgotten — in a society where people already want to erase HBCUs and black culture.”

With the experience more than 24 hours away, Talley said she was filled with a mix of emotions.

“I’m angry. I’m upset. I’m pissed,” she said. “I’m grateful it’s not me, but I’m beyond pissed.”

Less than three months into his college experience, Crayton said he felt disappointed and the student body felt “defeated.”

“Our security has failed us, the police have failed us, our campus police have failed us,” he said. “How many people have to die?” »