One Dead, Nine Injured, Including Three Children, in Gunfire Erupting After TSU Homecoming Parade
A man was killed and nine others were injured, including three children, after two groups opened fire on each other as crowds from a Tennessee State University homecoming parade thinned out Saturday, according to Nashville police.
A 24-year-old male was killed in the gunshots that occurred off-campus on Jefferson Street at 5:10 p.m., after the march had ended but parking lots were still crowded, according to police.
“We can tell from the shell casings that there were gunshots on one side of the street and then on the other side of the street,” police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters.
According to police, the shooting occurred after a large portion of the crowd had left to attend the Tennessee State Tigers-Eastern Illinois Panthers game in Nashville.
Police did not name the victims or confirm whether any were students. Their situations range from grazed by gunfire to serious injuries.
Aaron said that the three youngsters that were shot, one 12-year-old and two 14-year-olds, all had non-critical injuries.
Police are investigating how many shooters there were, and Aaron believes at least one individual in the hospital fired gunfire. Video from an airborne police camera could shed light on what happened.
Detectives were also interviewing those who had been shot. Aaron claimed that cops are familiar with some of the hospitalized persons from previous interactions. “We are confident that things are beginning to come together,” he told me.
Handguns are thought to have been used, and police discovered one on the street, he added.
The march took place on Saturday morning, and the throng was starting to thin out when the shooting occurred. Aaron stated that Jefferson Street had reopened roughly 20 minutes prior.
“Just a handful of people, a very small number of people, besmirched the celebration,” he told me.
He said the incident was especially unexpected given the large number of police officers and other public safety personnel manning the event. “There were police officers everywhere,” he informed me.
According to Nashville Fire Department spokesperson Kendra Loney, several of the firefighters who helped were simply having fun.
“Our personnel recounted to me some moments where they ripped off their belts and did things like use those as tourniquets,” according to Loney.
“We’re upset. “We’re angry,” she said.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell denounced the violence. He stated that hundreds of people marched along Jefferson Street during the homecoming celebration.
“What was a joyous atmosphere is tonight very different because of a senseless act of violence carried out by people who didn’t care who else might be caught in the crossfire,” according to what he wrote on X.
Tennessee State University officials reported a separate incident occurred at Nissan Stadium, where the school’s homecoming football game was taking place. When “an argument that escalated into a fight” in the parking lot prompted panic, three persons were trampled by a mob and brought to hospitals.
Jashawna Rucker, a recent high school graduate, was at the homecoming parade and was walking back to her family when gunfire broke out. She initially mistook the noises for fireworks, but she quickly realized they were from a shooting.
“And everybody was running, and I started running, almost fell,” she told Nashville-based NBC affiliate WSMV and others. “I just thank God it wasn’t me.”
She expressed her condolences for everyone who was shot or otherwise affected, as well as the one who died.
“It’s sad because nowadays we can’t do anything,” she told reporters on the scene. “We cannot do nothing. We can’t have fun, we can’t go outside, and there are children around. It’s quite sad.”