Three killed in shooting near US university
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 11, 2012
Three people were killed and and three others injured in a shooting at a party near?Suburn University, Alabama authorities confirmed Sunday. Two of the dead were? Auburn students who had been on the football team.
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A police officer shows the photo of the shooting suspct at a a press conference in Alabama on June 10, 2012.? |
The shooting?occurred late Saturday night at the University Heights apartments, a large complex near the university where many of the university's students live, Auburn Police Division Chief Tommy Dawson said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
The dead were identified to be three 20-year-olds, Dawson said.?One was?dead when police arrived at the scene, and the other two were?rushed to the hospital but died later.
One of the?injured, being shot in the head, has been in critical condition.
"This is a trying time, not only university students and athletes, but it's young people. It's six young people that have been shot. As you can tell, the community is shaken by this and grieving today," Dawson said.
A manhunt was?underway on?Sunday for the suspected gunman, Desmonte Leonard, who was believed to have driven away from the scene and later abandoned the car. Police urged Leonard to turn himself in.
Dawson dismissed suspicion about connections of the shooting to the university football team,?contending that "the only connection to the football team is that they are the victims of a brutal shooting."
"This is a sad, sad day for everyone associated with the entire Auburn family," said the football team coach Gene Chizik in a statement.
According to local media reports, the shooting began after a quarrel and scuffle over a woman, quoting witnesses as saying, who confirmed at least one people was killed and two others were hit. Local TV images from the scene also showed several emergency vehicles had converged overnight around the University Heights apartment complex.
