Crime

1 killed, 4 wounded after shooter fired into crowd at Florida A&M University, cops say

View of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a public and historically black university, in Tallahassee, Florida, on Dec. 14, 2020.
View of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a public and historically black university, in Tallahassee, Florida, on Dec. 14, 2020. dvarela@miamiherald.com

A gunman fired at least a dozen shots into a crowd, killing one and wounding four others, including a 16-year-old boy, at an outdoor basketball court on Florida A&M University’s campus in Tallahassee, police said.

Tallahassee police said Monday afternoon the motive of the shooting and the intended target are unclear. No arrests have been made.

The gunfire erupted around 4:30 p.m. Sunday when the courts were filled with more than a dozen people who were playing and watching the games, according to police.

Detectives say the shooter walked up to the courts and began firing into the crowd. Five people were struck and taken to the hospital, where one of them, a man, died from his injuries, police said.

The four people wounded, three men and one juvenile male, received injuries ranging from minor to serious and are expected to recover, police said. None of those injured are FAMU staff or students, according to detectives.

“I want to assure the FAMU community the shooting incident that occurred on campus is not an ongoing threat to the University. The safety and security of our students, and the campus is the highest priority. ... Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” university President Larry Robinson said in a statement Sunday night.

Classes resumed Monday at the historically Black university, part of Florida’s public university system.

Detectives ask anyone who may have witnessed the shooting, but did not speak with an officer on scene, to please call the Tallahassee Police Department at 850-891-4200. They may also remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 850-574-TIPS.

This story was originally published November 28, 2022 at 7:32 AM.

Michelle Marchante
Miami Herald
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.  Support my work with a digital subscription
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