The crowd leaving a homecoming game was packed so tightly that officers could not get ambulances through to the wounded and carried them out in their arms.
Tallahassee police arrested Anthony Rivers III, a 15-year-old boy, on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. Prosecutors charged him with 11 counts of attempted second-degree murder, plus one count of possession of a firearm by a delinquent, over the mass shooting outside Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla., that wounded 11 people. State Attorney Jack Campbell said the teenager will be charged as an adult.
“What should have been a weekend of celebration in our community instead became a night of fear and violence for the victims and their families,” Police Chief Lawrence Revell said of the arrest.
Judge Andrew Sheeran ordered the teenager held in secure detention at his first court appearance on Monday, Oct. 26, and prohibited him from contacting any victims or witnesses. He also ordered that his phone calls in detention be monitored except for calls with his attorney, and barred him from accessing social media. Sheeran also approved a police request to seal the arrest records while investigators gather evidence and interview witnesses. Campbell has urged anyone who saw the shooting or captured footage of it to contact police.
The shots came just before 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, near Perry and Manatee streets behind the stadium, roughly two hours after the Rattlers’ homecoming loss.
Carried Out in Officers’ Arms
Six juveniles were among the 11 people shot, the youngest 11 years old. No deaths have been reported. Authorities said at least three victims suffered serious injuries, and police said one person struck by gunfire was a FAMU student. The grandmother of one victim was hurt while running from the scene, not shot.
Officers ran toward the gunfire, Revell said, and police declared the scene secure around 9:45 p.m. The chief called it “especially heartbreaking” that kids were among the wounded. By Sunday morning, five of the wounded had gone home from the hospital, police said; six were still being treated, one in critical condition.
A Sophomore Shot in the Back
Two bullets struck Tramon Jackson, a sophomore at Leon High School and a junior varsity football player, hitting him in the shoulder and the back. Ricky Bell, Leon’s head coach, said Jackson had taken part in no altercation and remained in the ICU as of Monday, Oct. 26. Bell visited the teenager in the hospital and spoke with his mother. “She told me what was going on and she said that he got shot twice,” Bell said.
Leon County Schools said four of its students, from three different schools, were among the injured.
Steps From the Fight
Micayla Martin, a FAMU student, said she and her friends were close to the fight that broke out before the gunfire. Jayden Dubois, another FAMU student, said he heard gunshots and was trampled in the rush that followed.
Accounts of how many people opened fire differ: authorities have said they believe there was more than one assailant, while Revell said detectives believe there was only one shooter. He said the shooting likely stemmed from an altercation between two or three people, a dispute among several people who knew one another. Police said Monday, Oct. 26, that none of the victims appeared to have been an intended target.
Revell said additional arrests are possible and that the investigation remains open as police look for anyone else who may have taken part. The department’s Violent Crimes Unit is leading the case, and its detectives have gone through digital evidence and canvassed the neighborhood. Investigators set up a tip hotline and an online submission link for the public. Police credited information from the public, including cellphone videos and other digital evidence, with moving the case forward.
“If We Want to Come Back”
Stephanie Walters, who helps run HBCU Culture Shop and has vended at FAMU homecoming for nine years, said: “I’m not necessarily worried about if we’re able to come back; I’m more so worried about if we want to come back.”
FAMU President Marva Johnson said in a statement Sunday evening, Oct. 25: “To our Rattler family and our surrounding Tallahassee community, I share your outrage and profound sadness at the senseless and despicable shooting that took place near our FAMU campus last night.” She said the university was providing full assistance to Tallahassee police. FAMU assured the public its campus was safe and urged people to stay away from the scene. Mayor John Dailey described the shooting as a horrific, heartbreaking tragedy for the city.
Homecoming ranks among the biggest weekends of the year at FAMU, a historically Black university, and students, alumni and families filled the streets around the stadium. Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Golden Lions beat the Rattlers 31-28 before a crowd of more than 20,000 fans.
Observers have called the shooting one of the worst in the history of Tallahassee, a city of about 200,000 where high-profile gun violence has recurred in recent years. At Florida State’s student union in April 2025, a gunman killed two people and wounded six others; in 2022, a shooting outside a liquor store near the FSU campus after a football game left one person dead and eight wounded. Other historically Black colleges and universities have also seen gunfire at homecoming weekends lately.
The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot, not counting the shooter. Its records show at least 383 mass shootings in the U.S. so far in 2026, and its data make the FAMU shooting the 21st in Florida this year.