AUBURN, Ala. — Investigators were searching for a gunman who killed three people — including two former Auburn University football players — and wounded three others at a pool party near campus after several men began punching one another in a fight over a woman, authorities and witnesses said Sunday.
One of the wounded was shot in the head and critically hurt. Another was a current Auburn player, Eric Mack.
Desmonte Leonard opened fire at the party at an apartment complex near the university, Auburn Police Chief Tommy Dawson said. Federal marshals and police were searching for Leonard, who faces three counts of capital murder.
Slain were Edward Christian, who had not been playing because of a back injury, and Ladarious Phillips, who had quit playing football. The other person killed was 20-year-old Demario Pitts.
Officials said the other two wounded men are Xavier Moss and John Robertson. Robertson was shot in the head and was in critical condition; Moss was released from the hospital. Coach Gene Chizik said Mack was expected to make a full recovery.
“The only connection that the Auburn football team has to this is they are victims of a brutal shooting. Sometimes, the young men get a bad rap, I feel like, but they are the victims today,” Dawson said.
Dawson urged Leonard to turn himself in and also said authorities were searching for two other persons of interest.
Dawson stressed that the football team was connected to the shooting only because current and former players were victims. He said he did not know why the party was being held or what sparked the fight.
Turquorius Vines, 23, said he was at the pool party Saturday evening at the University Heights apartments with Pitts, a friend. He said he and his friend were approached by two other men who started arguing with them over a woman.
Vines said he punched one of the men, while Pitts hit both of the men over the head with a bottle. One or both of the two men then started shooting, he said. He said his friend was shot and killed, while two others also were hit by gunfire. Vines said he had never previously seen the men with whom he had been arguing.
