At least one person was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at a university campus in Mississippi on Saturday night, as a separate shooting outside a college football stadium in the state capital left a child injured, the authorities said.
The shootings, both at historically Black institutions, occurred within about 24 hours of three other shootings across rural Mississippi that left at least eight people dead. Two of those earlier shootings occurred on public high school campuses that were hosting Friday night football games.
On Saturday night, one person was found dead and two others with apparent gunshot wounds after a shooting was reported around 6:30 p.m. near a near a building at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss., the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said in a statement. The university later said on social media that the campus was closed until further notice.
No arrests had been made and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation was taking over the investigation, the public safety department said.
Separately, a shooting in a tailgate area outside a football stadium at Jackson State University on Saturday evening left a child wounded in the abdomen, said Bailey Martin, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. The child’s condition was not immediately clear.
The department said no arrests had been made. Tyree Jones, the sheriff of Hinds County, said in a statement that officers were clearing the stadium and the tailgate area.
Alcorn State University is near Mississippi’s border with Louisiana and about 75 miles by road southwest of Jackson.
The shootings on Friday and Saturday occurred over homecoming weekend, a poignant and celebratory ritual in Mississippi, particularly in rural areas where people return to small towns they left after high school.
In Heidelberg, Miss., two people were killed late Friday on a high school campus. Six others were killed early Saturday as a crowd celebrated homecoming weekend on Main Street in Leland, Miss. No arrests had been made in either case as of Saturday evening.
A third shooting took place on Friday in Rolling Fork, Miss., on a high school campus after a football game. A 17-year-old was shot twice and was in stable condition as of Saturday night, said a spokesman for the Sharkey County Sheriff’s Department.
Two people were arrested after the Rolling Fork shooting, and they were each charged with one count of aggravated assault, the spokesman said.
Rylee Kirk reports on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories for The Times.
Mark Walker is an investigative reporter for The Times focused on transportation. He is based in Washington.
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