A University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff student and a juvenile were hospitalized following a shooting across from a dormitory on campus late Thursday.
Lt. Theodore Haase, a criminal investigator with the UAPB Police Department, said Friday morning the juvenile remained at Jefferson Regional in critical condition. The student suffered a flesh wound and was treated and released from the hospital, Haase said.
While authorities have not identified either victim, a family spokesperson confirmed one of them is an 18-year-old male freshman who was released. The spokesperson declined to give his name but said he had left a bonfire on campus in celebration of UAPB’s homecoming and was running to his car at the Harrold Complex dormitory parking lot at 1204 L.A. “Prexy” Davis Drive when he got shot. A bullet went through his left arm, the spokesperson said.
Shots were fired at about 10:45 p.m. Thursday, as people were leaving the bonfire north of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Complex, according to Haase.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Campus police have identified a person of interest, Haase said, but he declined to elaborate citing a “very active” investigation. No arrests have been made, and a motive for the shooting has not been established.
“One of the steps we take, we do add a lot of additional cameras to the different parking lots and everything,” Haase said. “We do have footage, and we are interviewing victims, witnesses and we are reviewing the camera footage right now.”
University, Pine Bluff and State Police, along with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, responded to the shooting as well, according to campus spokesperson Stephanie Jackson. She said the additional law enforcement helped to increase patrolling of the campus from the ground and air for homecoming.
“We plan for these things in advance,” Haase said, adding law enforcers responded to the scene within 30 seconds. “We have additional security from a private security firm, as well as additional full- and part-time security officers from the university. … We have everybody that works in conjunction to ensure that they have a safe visit.”
Most of the officers heard the shots and some were directly in front of the area of the shooting, Haase said.
Shootings have marred celebrations of high school and college homecomings in recent years, including two in Pine Bluff on Oct. 17, 2021. A 21-year-old man was shot to death and eight others were wounded at 12:53 a.m. at a party at the Sahara Temple on South Main Street. At 2:15 a.m. another person was shot at University Drive and Pullen Avenue.
In 2022, at a homecoming-related event in downtown Pine Bluff, two people were shot, one in the jaw and another in the shoulder, in what police said could have been a related incident.
Two other shootings have occurred either at or near homecoming-related celebrations in the past six days across the South. A 19-year-old non-student died and four other people ages 13-20 were injured at Albany State University during the university’s homecoming weekend festivities, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. That same evening, three people died and eight others were injured during a trail ride following the Holmes County Central High School homecoming celebration near Lexington, Miss., according to multiple reports.