Video reveals fights prior to shooting on campus

Published 11:00 pm Tuesday, October 18, 2016

A new video and witness testimony reveal more information about the shooting that occurred early Sunday morning on the Troy University campus.

A video released by the Tropolitan, the university newspaper, shows several people fighting at a party outside of Sartain Hall before at least 13 shots are fired by an unseen source.

The video shows several males punching and kicking a person who is lying on the ground while a crowd stands by. Several women then also get into a fight before a single shot is fired from an unknown source.

Sign up for our daily email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

Then, seconds later, three shots are fired in succession, followed quickly by even more shots. The video shows people fleeing from the scene and screaming.

Sophomore fine arts major Ivey Vinson, who arrived at the scene with a roommate just before the shooting began, called the environment “rowdy” with “lots of catcalling and drunkenness.”

When Vinson arrived, she said she noticed people were leaving the area and asked a girl about it. The girl said that two men were in an argument, but Vinson said she didn’t seem too concerned about it.

“We were discussing if we should leave or stay, and the first two shots rang out,” Vinson said. “We instantly turned and started speed-walking away from the scene when several more shots were fired. I didn’t see where they were coming from, I just knew that I needed to backtrack and head to shelter: we instantly started running. I shouted to my party that we should head to the BCM, and we ran as fast as we could down the hill.”

Herbert Reeves, dean of student services, said that the University Police Department has the video and is investigating the incident.

According to Reeves, police were called about the fight shown in the video before shots were actually fired.

“Calls were made about the fight,” Reeves said. “Two arrests were made as a result of the fighting. I’m not com