Shooting near Tennessee State University leaves 1 dead, 9 injured, including children, officials say

By Emma Tucker, CNN

(CNN) — A man was killed and nine other people were injured in a shooting Saturday in North Nashville near Tennessee State University and investigators believe at least one of the injured participated in the gunfire, officials said.

The shooting happened around 5 p.m., Nashville police and fire officials said at a news conference Saturday evening.

“There’s no indication of any gang relation,” said Don Aaron, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. “It was two groups of people who were beefing and they opened fire on each other with a crowd around.”

The man who died was 24 years old, police said on X. His name, the names of the injured and information about a motive were not immediately released.

At least three of the injured were children who had noncritical injuries, Nashville police said on X. A 12-year-old girl and two 14-year-old girls were taken to an area children’s hospital, according to Aaron. The other victims range in age from a 23-year-old man to a 55-year-old woman, who was in critical condition, Aaron added.

“We believe that the others are going to survive and recover,” Aaron said.

At least one of the injured people “is suspected to have been involved in the gunfire,” Nashville police said on X. Police didn’t immediately say whether they were looking for anyone in connection with the shooting.

Saturday marked the end of homecoming week at Tennessee State University. The school’s football team played its homecoming game Saturday evening at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, roughly 3 miles east of where the shooting happened. The homecoming parade took place several hours before the shooting, starting at 8 a.m. and concluding around 12 p.m.

Investigators didn’t immediately know whether any of the people shot were students, Nashville police Cmdr. Anthony McClain told reporters.

“We think this is something that was kind of a sidebar to the (homecoming) celebration” and “not a direct reflection on the university itself,” McClain said.

“It is important to clarify that the shooting did not take place on our campus and that no one from TSU or affiliated with the university was involved,” said the university in a Monday news release. “Our campus community, including most of our students, alumni, and visitors, was at Nissan Stadium attending the homecoming football game when the shooting occurred.”

The shooting took place several blocks away from campus, the university said in a statement. In a separate incident, three people were injured at Nissan Stadium following “an argument that escalated into a fight in the parking lot,” causing a crowd to run for safety and trample several people, the university said.

“Please keep the affected families in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” the university said.

First responders rushed to help

Firefighters who already were in the area to do community outreach during the morning parade rushed to the wounded after the gunfire, city fire department spokesperson Kendra Loney said.

The firefighters who were at the shooting scene “said it just sounded like fireworks… until they realized it wasn’t,” Loney said.

“Our personnel recounted to me some moments where they ripped off their belts and did things like use those as tourniquets because they did not have their medical bags with them,” Loney said.

The shooting “interrupted what was otherwise a fun and eventful day for a lot of people here today,” Loney said.

Of the 10 shot, five were taken to hospitals by fire department personnel, and the others were “dropped off by private vehicles,” Nashville police spokesperson Brooke Reese said.

Authorities are making progress in their investigation, which remains ongoing, Aaron said.

CNN’s Paradise Afshar, Eric Levenson, and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.

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