No one has died. No one has been arrested. And six of the eleven people shot outside Florida A&M University's homecoming celebration on Saturday night were children — the youngest just 11 years old.
Gunfire erupted just before 8 p.m. on Perry Street, behind Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, as crowds were still spilling out of the stadium after the Rattlers' homecoming football game. By Sunday morning, five victims had been released from hospital. Six remained in treatment, one of them in critical condition.
A twelfth person — the grandmother of one of the victims — was injured while fleeing the scene.
A fight that turned into gunfire
Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell told reporters at a news conference shortly after midnight that investigators believe the shooting grew out of a physical fight between two or three people.
"It is especially heartbreaking to know that children are among those injured," Revell said. "I stand before you tonight devastated."
Police have not said what set the fight off, have not identified any suspects or persons of interest, and have not released the victims' names. One of the victims is a Florida A&M student.
The shooting came about two hours after more than 20,000 fans had filled Bragg Memorial Stadium to watch the Rattlers lose 31-28 to Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The streets around the stadium were still crowded with students, alumni and families when the shots rang out.
"Officers were picking up victims and carrying them"
Cellphone video from the scene showed Tallahassee police officers trying to help victims by flashlight as they lay on the ground, and carrying one victim on what looked like a makeshift stretcher through a parking lot and a crowd of onlookers.
"We had officers who were picking up victims and carrying them in their arms to transport because they couldn't get through the mass of people," Revell said, choking up as he spoke. He urged crowds to disperse quickly in emergencies so officers can reach the injured.
Florida A&M said in a statement that the shooting happened near its campus and that "the campus remains safe". Florida State University, about a mile away, issued an emergency alert about the violence and said it did not appear anyone from its school community was involved.
One of Tallahassee's worst mass shootings
Homecoming is one of the biggest weekends of the year at Florida A&M, a historically Black university of nearly 10,000 students. A week of events had drawn alumni and families back to the capital — Florida State had hosted Georgia Tech earlier in the day, and Halloween parties were underway across town.
The shooting will go down as one of the worst mass shootings in Tallahassee's history. There have been at least 383 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not counting the shooter.
On Sunday, Tallahassee police detectives reviewed digital evidence and canvassed the area, and set up a tip hotline and a link for the public to submit evidence.
"We need our community's help. No detail is too small, and no piece of information should go unreported," the department said in a statement. "If you know something, please share it with our detectives. Your information could be the key to holding those responsible accountable."
As of Sunday morning, police said they believed one shooter was involved. The manhunt continues.
Why it matters
Eleven people shot at a homecoming celebration — six of them children — and still no arrests, no suspects named, and no clear motive beyond a fight between two or three people. For the families of the victims, and for a university community that gathers every year to celebrate, the questions now are the same ones the police chief could not answer at midnight: who pulled the trigger, and why.
Reporting based on USA Today, CNN, the Associated Press, the Tallahassee Democrat and the New York Post.