One dead, several injured in mass shooting at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania

One person is dead and at least six others were wounded in a shooting amid homecoming festivities Saturday night at Lincoln University, one of the United States’ first historically Black colleges, authorities said.

One person alleged to have a gun has been taken into custody, Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe said during an overnight news conference on campus. He said it was possible someone else may have opened fire as well, but investigators are still trying to piece together what happened.

“There’s some evidence that leads us to believe that that is a viable theory right now,” he said.

The DA did not provide details about a potential motive or what precipitated the gunfire. Local, state and federal law enforcement officials are investigating, he said.

The extent of injuries for the six surviving victims was not immediately available.

The attack broke out before 9.30pm (12.30pm Sunday AEDT) after crowds exited a homecoming football game and gathered outside the school’s International Cultural Center, de Barrena-Sarobe said.

Marc Partee, Lincoln University chief of police, said the violence took place as visitors gathered for a “tailgate” portion of homecoming weekend festivities.

Witnesses told NBC Philadelphia crowds started running from reported gunfire on the campus near Oxford, Pennsylvania, in Chester County, about 9pm Saturday.

Though the nature of the shooting was not clear, Chester County Commissioner Eric Roe said in a statement that, “It appears there has been a mass shooting there tonight.” He called for people to join him in prayer for students, faculty and law enforcement.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said he’s offered the state’s “full support” to the school’s president, Brenda Allen, and local law enforcement.

“Please avoid the area, continue to follow the guidance of local law enforcement, and join Lori and me in praying for the Lincoln University community,” the governor said on X.

Two women on campus for Yardfest, a homecoming week event, told NBC Philadelphia that they didn’t hear gunfire but joined a large crowd of people running away from their location at about 9pm

“It was just a stampede of people,” said Ajia Hopkins, who accompanied friend and Lincoln alumna Dahjai Roger to the event Saturday. “There was no explanation after the running.”

Rogers said her friends were safe, but three of them fell in the rush to get away.

Speaking on its Instagram account, Lincoln said counsellors will be available to students on Sunday morning, but it otherwise offered little information on the shooting.

Lincoln University says on its website that it is “the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU).”

“This mass shooting should never have happened — never have happened,” said de Barrena-Sarobe, the county DA.

Saturday’s gunfire follows a separate shooting Friday night near Howard University, another historically Black college, in Washington, D.C. Five people suffered non-life-threatening injuries in that attack, NBC Washington reported. Police said none of the victims attend Howard, about 200km south-southwest of Lincoln.