NASHVILLE — (CNN) The search continues for the gunman after a quadruple shooting broke out during an apparent dice game on the Tennessee State University campus.
A 19-year-old man was killed and three others were injured by the gunfire just before 11 p.m. Thursday in a courtyard behind the Floyd-Payne Campus Center on John A. Merritt Boulevard.
Police said an argument erupted over a dice game, which escalated into a physical fight, and then gunshots rang out.
Three 18-year-old female TSU students who were in the area were injured. One woman was grazed by a bullet and never went to the hospital, another was treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The third woman remains hospitalized in stable condition and is expected to recover.
The 19-year-old who was killed was not a student at the university, according to police. His name has not been released by officials.
Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron stressed this was an “isolated incident” and that no other students on campus were or are in danger. A campus-wide lockdown that lasted several hours has been lifted.
Police said they have recovered a pistol that was found in the courtyard where the shooting took place.
“I can tell you that multiple shots were fired. We don’t know at this point, until we analyze the evidence that we have recovered, how many weapons might have been involved. It could be one weapon … I can’t confirm that at the moment; we just don’t know yet,” Aaron said.
According to Aaron, several students were there when the fight took place, and some of them were recording video and pictures.
“There were a number of students who took out their cellphones and began recording as the fight was taking place. We have seen some of that video from cooperating students, obviously people scattered when shots were fired, so we know that there are other students who have video who may have good knowledge of the parties involved in this,” Aaron said.
The search continues for the gunman. Police say they don’t have a detailed description of the shooter at this time.
“If we had a good description of the shooter to give you, we would be putting that out. I would also remind you the report of the shots fire was at 10:52 and it was very dark,” Aaron said.
Police are urging any TSU students who have video or information about the shooting to call them at 615-74-CRIME.
All on-campus activities are scheduled to go on as normal on Friday. The university does not have scheduled classes on Fridays.
Officials have been struggling to make the TSU area safer in recent years. Just last week, three people were shot outside a house party near campus. So far, no one has been arrested in connection to that shooting.
Some students were upset and concerned for their safety, saying the university did not send out any alerts after that shooting. TSU officials told Channel 4 an alert was not sent out for that incident because the shooting took place off campus.
Thursday night’s shooting was different. TSU officials said an emergency alert was sent out to students around 11:20 p.m.
According to TSU’s latest crime awareness report, there have been dozens of robberies, assaults and burglaries on campus over the past three years. A special community board has been meeting over the past year looking at ways to keep students safe from violent crimes. Members agree that something has to change, but right now, it’s not clear what.
This comes as state lawmakers consider allowing legal guns on college campuses across the state. A new proposal would allow faculty and staff to carry firearms if they have a valid permit. The issue came up earlier this month as state senators evaluated security on college campuses.
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