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Suspects Arrested in Case of HBCU Campus Gunfire

Recent shootings on and around college campuses nationwide have caused many to question the overall safety of schools. While the majority of high-profile incidents of gun violence have taken place on the grounds of traditionally White institutions, historically Black colleges have not been immune.

Florida A&M University’s campus police recently arrested five people in connection with gunfire on the campus last Friday. No one was injured.

Following an on-campus robbery, Thursday when a FAMU student was robbed at gunpoint, six shots were fired on the school’s main quadrangle Friday. According to university officials, the shooting began after an argument at about 1:50 p.m. Police asked those involved in the argument to leave. Shortly afterward, police heard shots fired.

The suspects were arrested the same day.

According to university officials, only one of the five is a student at FAMU, 20-year-old Antoine Williams. He was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds.

FAMU police apprehended Williams shortly after he allegedly entered the dormitory Gibbs Hall with a loaded gun.

Cousins Rashaud Bell and Renaldo Bell were charged with possession of a firearm on school grounds and possession of a stolen firearm. Benjamin Robinson, a student at Tallahassee Community College, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm on school grounds, shooting into an occupied vehicle and possession of a weapon with an altered serial number. Cory Johnson, a Bethune-Cookman University student, was charged with aiding and abetting and being an accessory to a crime.

FAMU police released no other information.

Earlier this year, Howard University student Arlen Garrett, 22, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder for a shooting that occurred in University Town Center, a student housing complex in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

A preliminary investigation found that Garrett and accomplice Mashalleck Ellis,18, allegedly went to the complex to meet with 19-year-old Donald Smalls when a struggle ensued and Smalls was shot.

That investigation continues.

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