Gunfire Outside Bragg: The FAMU Homecoming Shooting

Homecoming is the one weekend an HBCU belongs to everyone who ever loved it. On Saturday night, October 24, 2026, that celebration at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee was broken by gunfire.

A Crowd Outside Bragg

Just before 8 p.m., shots rang out near Bragg Memorial Stadium on Perry Street as homecoming crowds gathered. Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said 11 people suffered gunshot wounds. A twelfth person, the grandmother of one of the victims, was hurt while fleeing. Six of the injured were juveniles; the youngest was 11 years old. One victim was a FAMU student. Three were seriously injured, one critically, while eight were reported stable.

Why Homecoming Matters

For FAMU, as for every HBCU, homecoming is more than a football game. It is a reunion of generations, a showcase for the Marching 100, and a public declaration that Black institutions built against exclusion still stand. Families bring children precisely because the weekend is meant to be safe, joyful and shared. That so many of the wounded were children makes this attack a wound to that whole tradition.

The Larger Pattern

Gun violence has repeatedly reached the edges of Black community celebrations, from parades to graduations to block parties. These events draw crowds into open public spaces where a single act can injure many. Communities and campuses now face the hard work of protecting gatherings without surrendering them, because giving up the celebration would mean giving up something gun violence has no right to take.

What Comes Next

Police are investigating, and the university has urged anyone with information to contact authorities. HistorianSpeaks will update this story as details on the investigation and the victims' recovery become available.