Family of teen killed in shooting sue Tuskegee University for wrongful death

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This article was published 20/11/2024 (381 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TUSKEGEE, Ala. (AP) — The parents of an 18-year-old who was killed in a hail of gunfire at Tuskegee University filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday, saying the school failed to provide adequate security measures that could have prevented the fatal shooting.

Tamika and Larry Johnson’s son, La’Tavion Johnson, 18, was shot and killed while attending a party to celebrate the end of the school’s 100th homecoming week outside a dormitory on campus in the early hours of Nov. 10. The flurry of gunfire sent students and visitors running. At least 16 people were injured.

Johnson was not a student, the local coroner said, but was on campus for the school’s annual festivities. Johnson’s family told AL.com that Johnson, who graduated high school earlier in the year, was shot as he pushed someone else out of the way of the gunfire.

“It’s an unfortunate tragedy that could have been avoided with appropriate policing and security measures on the campus,’’ Ted Mann, an attorney for the family, said in an email.

Mann pointed to another shooting in September 2023, when two visitors to the campus were shot and two students were hurt while trying to leave what campus officials described as an “unauthorized party,” the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

The lawsuit says the school “failed to undertake appropriate measures to protect residents, alumni, guests, visitors and students,” despite knowledge of unspecified prior “physical threats and acts of physical violence.”

The suit also names former university Police Chief Terrance Calloway, the school’s facility management company, and Jaquez Myrick, a 25-year-old man who was charged with illegal possession of a machine gun after he was arrested at the scene with a Glock that had been converted to an automatic weapon.

The lawsuit says the defendants allowed guests, including Myrick, to enter the campus without showing identification, and that vehicles were not inspected for firearms.

Jeremiah Williams, 20, who witnesses placed at the scene of the shooting, was charged Friday in federal court with illegal possession of a machine gun. Neither Williams nor Myrick has been accused of killing Johnson or injuring others. Both deny firing their weapons during the shooting.

Attorneys for Williams and Myrick in their criminal cases have not responded to emails seeking comment.

A spokesperson for Tuskegee University said the school does not respond to questions about pending litigation.

At a news conference the day after the shooting, Tuskegee University president Dr. Mark Brown announced that Calloway would be replaced and that the school would no longer be open to the public. All students and faculty are now required to carry visible identification on campus, Brown said.

He said the school hired over 70 additional officers during homecoming week and pointed to security checks that were at all official school events. The checkpoints included metal detectors and pat-downs, Brown said.

Brown said the party where the shooting happened was not sanctioned by the school.

“We did not nor could we have planned for security at an event that was not approved in advance or sanctioned by the university,” Brown said. “Nonetheless, it happened on our campus, and we take full responsibility for allowing a thorough investigation and implementing corrective actions.”