A 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection with a mass shooting that left at least 11 people wounded over the weekend outside Florida A&M University’s football stadium.
On Saturday night, a shooting broke out around 8 p.m. near the university’s Bragg Memorial Stadium following its homecoming game against the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Six children, the youngest 11 years old, were hit by gunfire.
Six victims remain hospitalized, including one in critical condition, said Alicia Hill, a spokeswoman for the Tallahassee Police Department. In addition to those shot, a victim’s grandmother was injured while fleeing, police said.
On Monday, the police department announced that detectives had arrested Anthony Rivers III in connection with the shooting. The teen faces 11 counts of attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a delinquent.
“He will be prosecuted as an adult,” State Attorney Jack Campbell said.
Preliminary findings indicate that a physical fight among people who knew one another preceded the shooting, Hill said. Police have said that “none of the victims appear to have been the intended targets.”
One of those wounded, Tramon Jackson, a Leon High School sophomore and junior-varsity football player, was shot twice while attending the postgame festivities, his coach told the Tallahassee Democrat. He remains in intensive care.
“What should have been a weekend of celebration in our community instead became a night of fear and violence for the victims and their families,” Police Chief Lawrence Revell said.
Hill said investigators are still determining what sparked the fight and believe other people may have been involved.
“Additional arrests could be forthcoming,” she said.
Homecoming events at Florida A&M, a historically Black university with nearly 10,000 students, took place throughout the past week and concluded Sunday.
“Our hearts are with the victims and everyone affected by tonight’s incident on Perry Street,” the university said in a statement released after the shooting.
Police are asking anyone who saw or heard anything, or who has information about the shooting, to contact investigators. Hill said tips from the community have helped detectives piece together what happened. Investigators have established a tip hotline and a website for people to submit evidence.
“This is just the beginning,” Hill said. “Even though we’ve made an arrest, we still want to continue the investigation and see it all the way through, because you’re talking about a dozen people forever impacted, as well as a community forever changed following these events.”
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