A homecoming weekend that drew more than 20,000 fans to a Tallahassee, Fla., stadium ended with 11 people shot and a crowd so dense that officers carried the wounded out in their arms because ambulances could not reach them.
Judge Andrew Sheeran ordered Anthony Rivers III, the 15-year-old boy charged in the shooting outside Bragg Memorial Stadium, held in secure detention at his first court appearance on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, and barred him from contacting any victims or witnesses.
Sheeran also ordered Rivers’ phone calls in detention monitored, except calls with his attorney, and barred him from accessing social media. He also approved a police request to seal the arrest records while investigators continue gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses.
The Rattlers’ homecoming loss had ended about two hours earlier when shots rang out just before 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, near Perry and Manatee streets behind the stadium. Eleven people were wounded. No deaths have been reported.
Tallahassee police named Rivers and arrested him Sunday, Oct. 25. The counts against him include 11 of attempted second-degree murder, plus one of possession of a firearm by a delinquent. State Attorney Jack Campbell said Rivers will be charged as an adult.
Carried Out in Officers’ Arms
Officers ran toward the gunfire, Police Chief Lawrence Revell said. The crowd leaving the game had packed the streets so tightly that officers could not get ambulances to the wounded, so they carried them out instead. Police declared the scene secure around 9:45 p.m.
Shot Twice, Still in the ICU
Six juveniles were among those shot, the youngest 11 years old. At least three victims suffered serious injuries, authorities said. Police said one person struck by gunfire was a FAMU student, and that another person hurt an ankle while fleeing. Revell said it was “especially heartbreaking” that kids were among the wounded.
By Sunday morning, five of the wounded had gone home from the hospital and six were still being treated, one in critical condition, police said.
Two bullets struck Tramon Jackson, a sophomore and junior varsity football player at Leon High School, hitting him in the shoulder and the back. Head coach Ricky Bell said the teenager took no part in any altercation and remained in the ICU as of Monday, Oct. 26. Bell visited the teenager in the hospital and spoke with his mother.
“She told me what was going on and she said that he got shot twice,” Bell said.
Leon County Schools said four of its students, from three different schools, were among the injured. Jayden Dubois, a FAMU student, said he heard the gunshots and was trampled in the rush that followed.
Cellphone Videos Moved the Case
Detectives believe only one shooter opened fire, Revell said, and that the violence likely stemmed from an altercation between two or three people. Revell described it as a dispute among several people who knew one another. Police said Monday, Oct. 26, that it appears none of the victims was an intended target.
The department’s Violent Crimes Unit is leading the case. Detectives reviewed digital evidence and canvassed the area, and the Tallahassee Police Department credited information from the public, including cellphone videos and other digital evidence, with helping move the case forward. Investigators set up a tip hotline and an online link for public submissions, and Campbell urged anyone who saw the shooting or captured footage to contact police.
Revell said additional arrests are possible, the investigation remains open and investigators are looking for others who might have been involved.
“While this arrest marks a significant step forward, our work is far from over. We remain committed to holding those responsible accountable and getting answers for every family impacted by this tragedy,” Revell said.
“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,” he added.
FSU Urged Students to Stay Indoors
Florida State University, about a mile from the FAMU campus, issued an emergency alert the night of Oct. 24 urging students, faculty and staff to remain indoors and “stay alert.” FAMU told the public its campus was safe and asked people to steer clear of the scene. Mayor John Dailey described the shooting as a horrific, heartbreaking tragedy for the city.
Students, alumni and families fill the streets around the stadium for homecoming, one of the biggest weekends of the year at FAMU, a historically Black university. Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Golden Lions beat the Rattlers 31-28 in front of more than 20,000 fans. Observers have described the shooting as one of the worst in Tallahassee’s history.
The city of about 200,000 has lived through several high-profile shootings in recent years. At Florida State’s student union in April 2025, a gunman killed two people and wounded six others, and a 2022 shooting outside a liquor store near the FSU campus after a football game left one person dead and eight wounded. Gunfire has also broken out at homecoming weekends at a number of other HBCUs lately.
The Gun Violence Archive counts a mass shooting as four or more people shot, not counting the shooter. It has recorded at least 383 mass shootings in the U.S. so far in 2026, and its data make the FAMU shooting the 21st mass shooting in Florida this year.