Anthony Rivers III, 15, to Be Charged as an Adult in Florida A&M Homecoming Shooting

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A 15-year-old boy will be charged as an adult with 11 counts of attempted second-degree murder in the shooting that wounded 11 people — six of them children — as crowds poured out of Florida A&M's homecoming game Saturday night, police and prosecutors said Monday.

Tallahassee police identified the teenager as Anthony Rivers III, according to the Associated Press and the Tallahassee Democrat. He was arrested Sunday, one day after the gunfire near the corner of Perry and Manatee streets, just outside Bragg Memorial Stadium. At a court hearing Monday, Leon Circuit Judge Andrew Sheeran ordered him held in secure detention while the case is pending and barred him from any contact with the victims or witnesses. State Attorney Jack Campbell said the case will be prosecuted in adult court, and the teenager will be transferred from the Juvenile Assessment Center to the Leon County Detention Facility. At the police department's request, the judge sealed the arrest affidavit to protect an investigation that is still active. Court records did not list an attorney for him.

The shooting came at the end of homecoming, the weekend that brings generations of Rattlers back to Tallahassee. Florida A&M had just lost to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 31–28, and the streets around the stadium were full of students, alumni and families. Just before 8 p.m., a fight broke out between people who knew one another, police said, and shots followed. Eleven people were hit by gunfire. A 12th person, the grandmother of one of the victims, was injured in her ankle as she ran. Six of the wounded were minors; the youngest is 11. Four are students in Leon County schools, and one is believed to be a Florida A&M student. Police say none of the victims appears to have been an intended target.

The crowd was so dense that ambulances could not reach the wounded. Officers carried victims through the crowds to emergency vehicles. As of Monday, USA Today reported, five of the wounded had been released from the hospital and six remained hospitalized, including one person in critical condition. Three victims suffered serious injuries.

"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. "While this arrest marks a significant step forward, our work is far from over."

Detectives believe there was a single shooter but say more arrests are possible. Police credited the community for the speed of the arrest: tips and cellphone video sent in by the public were, in the department's words, "vital to investigative efforts." Anyone with information can call the dedicated hotline at 850-891-4610 or Crime Solvers anonymously at 850-574-TIPS.

Florida A&M's leadership spoke over the weekend and into Monday. President Marva Johnson, in a statement Sunday evening carried by WCTV, called it a "senseless and despicable shooting" and said she shares the community's "outrage and profound sadness." The university has reached out to its injured community members, is making counseling available to students, and is assisting police fully, she said. Head football coach Quinn Gray Sr. posted his own message Sunday: "Homecoming is about family. It's about coming home to celebrate everything FAMU means to us. No one should leave our celebration in an ambulance, and no child should ever be caught in gunfire." On Monday he went further, urging young people "to put guns down and put more effort into our education," and adding: "There's no way a 15-year-old should be able to have any type of ability to possess a firearm." Mayor John Dailey called the shooting "a truly horrific and heartbreaking tragedy" and told the FAMU family it is not alone.

Previously's first report on the shooting: 11 Shot, Six of Them Juveniles, After Florida A&M's Homecoming Game in Tallahassee

— Previously's Take: An arrest tells this community who. It does not tell them how a 15-year-old came to be holding a gun in a crowd of families on the one weekend of the year built entirely around coming home. Coach Gray put that question on the record Monday, and it will still be standing when homecoming returns to Perry Street next fall. For now, six people are still in the hospital. One of them is fighting.