By Carol Robinson
The parents of a teen killed in a hail of gunfire following homecoming festivities on the Tuskegee University campus have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the university and security officials.
The lawsuit was filed in Macon County on Tuesday by attorneys for Tamika and Larry Johnson Jr., the parents of 18-year-old La’Tavion Johnson.
The suit names as defendants Tuskegee University; former university Police Chief Terrance Calloway; International Protections Investigation Agency and its owner Reginald Brown; Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, the university’s facilities management company; Jaquez Myrick, a Montgomery man charged with being in possession of an illegal machine gun; and multiple other unnamed defendants.
La’Tavion Johnson was a recent graduate of Charles Henderson High School and was looking forward to starting a new job with the Alabama Department of Transportation.
Instead, he was shot and killed in the early-morning hours of Nov. 10 on the Tuskegee University campus. His family previously told AL.com he died saving someone else.
“It’s an unfortunate tragedy that could have been avoided with appropriate policing and security measures on the campus,’’ said Birmingham attorney Tedd Mann of Mann & Potter.
“They had a somewhat similar shooting on the campus just a year ago, and we feel like the defendants involved, particularly those at the university and the contractors that were working with the university really failed to adequately secure the premises of the university.”
When asked for a response to the lawsuit, Tuskegee University officials said they do not comment on pending litigation.
The shooting happened in that Sunday’s predawn hours at West Commons on-campus apartments. Some of it was caught on social media videos.
The shooting came as Tuskegee’s 100th Homecoming Week was winding down. Its football team that Saturday had played Fairfield-based HBCU Miles College.
Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Lt. Jeremy Burkett said of the 16 others injured, 12 of those were shot. They were taken to hospitals in Montgomery and Lee County.
According to Burkett, four others sustained injuries during the ensuing chaos.
Myrick and another man, Jeremiah Williams, have been charged federally on illegal machine gun charges. No one has yet been charged in La’Tavion Johnson’s death or the wounding of the others.
Prior to the shooting, according to the lawsuit, Tuskegee University operated a campus which allowed open entry and visitation by students, guests and visitors.
University and security officials, the suit contends, “were aware of a number of violent occurrences at the campus of Tuskegee University, including discharge of firearms, physical threats and acts of physical violence.”
Still, the lawsuit says, those named in the lawsuit allowed the possession of firearms on campus.
With the homecoming festivities taking place, the defendants were aware of the need for increased security when intercollegiate athletic events, such as homecoming, were held on campus, lawyers contend.
While they may have provided additional security services and officers at the football stadium, they failed to provide increased security officers for campus-wide properties of Tuskegee University, including in the areas around and surrounding student dorms, the suit states.
The defendants, according to the lawsuit, “were aware that homecoming festivities would attract large crowds on…campus and that students, alumni, guests and visitors would be participating in alumni reunions, sorority reunions, fraternity reunions, and other related festivities surrounding homecoming.”
Myrick, the lawsuit states, went onto campus with a gun that had a Glock switch, or a machine gun conversion device, which allowed him to “shoot and spray projectiles at students, guests and visitors on the campus of the university homecoming festivities, as well as gatherings on the campus.”
“He was allowed to enter the campus with this deadly firearm and scores of ammunition without so much as having to show an ID or to be required to have his person and/or his vehicle scanned inspected or prohibited from entry onto the campus while possessing a firearm and ammunition,” the complaint states.
The defendants, attorneys said, failed to monitor and supervise the campus in a way to prevent the possession and use of guns, provide adequate security and security forces, and warn students and visitors of potential criminal acts.
The suit seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
The day after the deadly shooting, Tuskegee University replaced its security chief and established a new policy requiring identification badges for entry and to be worn at all times on campus.
Tuskegee President and CEO Dr. Mark A. Brown said the university was making the changes to protect students. “Tuskegee University is no longer an open campus,” Brown said.
Brown said the school hired over 70 additional law enforcement officers from throughout Alabama and Georgia with authority for crowd control and warned of prohibitions against drugs and guns on campus.
“However, the general campus remained open, and we did not, nor could we have planned for security at an event that was not approved in advance or officially sanctioned by the university,” Brown said.
“The event in which the shooting took place was not approved in advance, and in no way was it sanctioned by the university.
“Nonetheless,’’ he said, “it happened on our campus, and we take full responsibility for allowing a thorough investigation and implementing corrective actions.”
