A shooting Wednesday night left one person dead and a second wounded at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. The shooting followed a high school graduation ceremony taking place on the college campus.
The shooting happened around 8:50 p.m. just outside the Murphy Center auditorium, where Murfreesboro's Riverdale High School had just concluded its 2022 commencement ceremony. The event drew hundreds of students, families and community members.
According to a release from the Murfreesboro Police Department, both MPD and MTSU Police responded to the scene at approximately 8:51 p.m. Police found two people with gunshot wounds on the north side of the building beside the tennis courts. One of those still-unidentified victims died, while the second was listed in critical but stable condition on Wednesday night.
At 9:13 p.m., MTSU sent out a social media post and an emergency text message to students.
One witness who said he attended the graduation as a guest reported that he heard gunshots as he walked to his car.
“As soon as that happened, I immediately got on the phone with police and started running to the direction where the shots originated from,” Dylan Fickes told the Nashville Scene. “When I arrived on scene, there was a high school-aged kid laying on the ground who appeared to have been shot in the arm and the thigh, and I was just on the phone with dispatch until officers had arrived.”
Another witness who lives across from the Murphy Center reported hearing several gunshots before seeing people running from the area.
“Tonight’s shooting at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) is a tragedy for our community,” MPD said in a release. “We mourned with the family who lost a loved one and the victim who was injured.”
As of Thursday morning, law enforcement has identified a person of interest in the shooting, but has not named them publicly. The MTSU campus has reopened, but Riverdale High School is closed on Thursday as a precaution.
Students from nearby Blackman High School were present on the MTSU campus around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, where they were preparing for their own graduation ceremony. That event is scheduled to take place at the Murphy Center at 7 p.m. Thursday.
While campus was deemed safe and the crime scene was cleared and open, some remnants of last night’s incident remained in the form of scraps of yellow crime-scene tape. Two dark stains were also present on the concrete.
Update, 6 p.m.: A 17-year-old male was charged with first-degree murder on Thursday following Wednesday night’s shooting on MTSU's campus, which left an 18-year-old dead and a 17-year-old wounded.
The Murfreesboro Police Department identified the deceased victim as Hasani Brewer, with multiple news organizations reporting the teen was known in the community as Sunny Gant, per the family. Police did not release the name of the alleged shooter, citing his age, but said that he was arrested Thursday in Clarksville after fleeing the scene by blending in with the panicked crowd.
Police are also not releasing the name of the wounded 17-year-old boy who is now listed in stable condition in an area hospital.
According to MPD, the shooting occurred after Brewer and the wounded teen got into a fight that spilled into the tennis courts beside the Murphy Center, and at some point, police say the alleged shooter pulled a gun and fired into a crowd of people.
“This is a sad day for our community,” MPD public information officer Larry Flowers said at a press conference Thursday evening. “This was simply a senseless act of violence that never should have happened.” Flowers added that the shooting was not random, calling the unidentified juvenile a “violent and dangerous individual.”
That accused teen is currently charged with first-degree murder as a juvenile, but more charges could be filed as the investigation continues.
Rutherford County Schools communications and community relations director James Evans confirmed that the alleged shooter is a former RHS student who did not graduate, while the wounded teen is a current RHS student. Brewer was a 2021 graduate of RHS.
RHS was closed today and will remain closed to students on Friday, and a community vigil is planned for Thursday evening.
“This is not Murfreesboro, we are better than this,” Flowers said. “But the public can rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this.”
No other information about the investigation has been released.
