Barry pledges support after deadly TSU shooting

Hours after a shooting that killed one man and injured three students at Tennessee State University, Mayor Megan Barry pledged to repair the damage violence had done on the school’s campus and the surrounding neighborhood.

Flanked by TSU President Glenda Glover and several Metro police officers during a news conference Friday, a somber Barry, dressed in black, said the community must unite to fight that violence, which often invades TSU from beyond its borders.

"Tennessee State University and the community that surrounds it is an incredibly important part of the fabric of our city," Barry said, reading from prepared remarks. "It will be a goal of my administration to invest in and revitalize the area in order to improve the quality of life for residents and support the local economy.

"That can’t happen unless residents and visitors feel safe."

To accomplish that goal, Barry said, Metro police will patrol the campus at night, joining TSU police and security guards who already are on duty. The added security measure began Friday.

"Despite the shooting incident (Thursday) night, we believe the TSU campus is a safe place," Barry said. "Our police department will work with Dr. Glover and the TSU Police Department to help ensure it stays that way."

Dice game leads to shooting

Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said the Thursday night shooting stemmed from an argument over a dice game that escalated into a physical fight and then gunfire in a TSU courtyard.

Aaron said young people were gathered in the courtyard by the Floyd-Payne Campus Center when shots rang out around 10:50 p.m.

One or more of those bullets hit Cameron Selmon of Memphis, who died at the scene. Selmon, 19, was not a TSU student.

Bullets also hit three freshman women who were passing by the courtyard at the time.

One woman was grazed by a bullet and refused treatment, Aaron said. The other two were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where they were treated and released Friday.

Of the university's sworn police department of 28 officers, Glover said four or five were on campus at the time of the shooting, although it was unclear exactly where they were when the shooting took place. Glover said TSU police immediately notified Metro, which is leading the investigation.

Detectives have not been able to identify the suspect responsible for the deadly shooting.

Aaron said several students gathered in the courtyard used their smartphones to record video footage as the fighting and shooting erupted. Detectives were reviewing some of those videos Friday, but were still asking for others.

The police department is teaming with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to offer a $5,000 reward for information on the gunman's identity. That is in addition to a reward of up to $1,000 offered by Nashville Crime Stoppers.

Anyone with information or footage of the incident can call 615-74-CRIME.

At several points during a Friday interview, Aaron reiterated that the shooting was an isolated incident that did not speak to an overarching danger on campus.

“We think the campus itself is a very safe environment that last night was victimized by a dispute that turned into a fight that turned into a shooting," he said. “A college campus is a microcosm of society. And what happened there last night is not unheard of in any major city in the country.”

The killing at TSU marked Nashville's 58th homicide this year and the third homicide that was reported Thursday night. Last year at this time the city had 34 homicides.

Expanding safety efforts

Freshman Terrea Thomas, who was on campus Friday, said she was saddened to find out about the shooting on Twitter.

"I was even sadder because this has been going on for a while now," she said.

The Thursday shooting is the latest in a long string of violent incidents connected to TSU and the nearby Hadley Park neighborhood, although many of those incidents have occurred off campus and involve suspects or victims who were not affiliated with the university.

The shooting came the same day as a meeting between police, TSU officials and community leaders to discuss safety concerns around the campus. That meeting was spurred by a shooting last week that injured three people at an off-campus house party on Albion Street, near the university. The gunman involved in that shooting is still at large and the investigation is ongoing.

During an interview Friday, Glover said TSU had invested $1 million over the past year on campus safety improvements. Some of that money went toward new fencing, lighting and security cameras, she said.

Glover said the university also is working to hire more campus police officers.

In March 2014, motivated by another wave of crime in and around campus, TSU instituted a new policy requiring students to wear their IDs on campus at all times. Administrators said at the time that much of the criminal activity was initiated by people not associated with the school.

Glover said that the new policy had helped, but acknowledged it was not fail-safe.

“As in many systems, sometimes there’s a breach, and apparently there was a breach (Thursday),” she said.

TSU has teamed with Metro and religious leaders in the past year to confront crime in the area surrounding the university.

Kelli Sharpe, TSU's assistant vice president for public relations and communications, said police and community members at the most recent meeting addressed the need for better public lighting and a crackdown on dilapidated houses and junk cars in the neighborhood surrounding campus.

“We think that that discussion is just one of many community groups need to have,” Sharpe said. “All we can do is talk to our students, have them make smart decisions, continue to partner with the community, continue to partner with Metro police.”

During her remarks Friday, Barry urged community members to form a coalition with police to promote safety.

"This is a community issue, not just one involving the police," Barry said. "I am asking that community leaders, the clergy and families work even more diligently to dissuade violence and criminal conduct that leads to violence."

'A good young man'

Selmon, the victim killed Thursday, was a 2014 graduate of Southwind High School in Memphis.

Noah Lane, who said he attended Colonial Middle School in Memphis with Selmon, described the avid football fan who loved the Dallas Cowboys.

“He was a very funny, active young man," Lane said, adding that Selmon was "at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Neighbor Harriett Freeman said Selmon was "a good young man" who was always polite and respectful.

“He had good parents — good, loving parents,” Freeman said by telephone. “He was always very respectful, saying, ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘No, ma’am.’ … My heart goes out to his family.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at 615-259-8072 and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund. Reach Jordan Buie at 615-726-8232 and follow him on Twitter @jordanbuie.

Help police

Metro detectives have not identified the suspect in Thursday's shooting. Police are teaming with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to offer a $5,000 reward for information on the gunman's identity. That is in addition to a reward of up to $1,000 offered by Nashville Crime Stoppers.

Anyone with information or footage of the incident can call 615-74-CRIME.