4 shot, 1 mortally, at Arizona college

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- An early-morning fight between two groups of students escalated into gunfire in the parking lot outside an Arizona university dormitory, leaving one person dead and three others wounded.

And in Texas, one person was killed and another wounded during a shooting Friday at a Texas Southern University student-housing complex, and the Houston campus quickly went on lockdown, university and police officials said. Houston police spokesman Kese Smith said two people have been detained.

A Northern Arizona University freshman told police that he was hit in the face during a late-night confrontation and then tried to render first aid after he opened fire on the four fraternity members, according to court documents.

Steven Jones, 18, was found alongside the four victims in a campus parking lot Friday shortly after the 1:20 a.m. shootings. Jones told a responding campus police officer that he had opened fire, the arrest report said.

Jones told investigators that several people approached him and two friends while they were outside a residence. A fight broke out between the two groups, and Jones said that he was hit in the face. According to the suspect, a group came out of the house and chased him. He ran to his car and got a handgun. Two of the victims had stopped following him but turned around when he yelled that he had a gun. Jones said he shot them both but then tried to help one of them.

A friend of Jones said the first victim asked Jones why he brought out a gun; then, the suspect shot him multiple times, police said. The second victim was shot after taking a step in Jones' direction, according to the witness. Both were standing no more than 10 feet away.

A group tried to subdue Jones, who fired a shot in the air. Jones said he then dropped his firearm, which had a flashlight attached to it.

University Police Chief Gregory Fowler identified Jones as the shooter and said he used a handgun in the 1:20 a.m. shootings.

Jones was booked Friday for one count of first-degree homicide and three counts of aggravated assault. A judge set bond at $2 million.

Deputy County Attorney Ammon Barker said there is no indication Jones acted in self-defense and that he could have easily walked away from the fight.

The victims were all members of the Delta Chi fraternity, the organization said in a statement. The university identified the student who died as Colin Brough. The victims being treated at Flagstaff Medical Center are Nicholas Prato, Kyle Zientek and Nicholas Piring. The hospital said it couldn't release any information on conditions.

Jones was a pledge for Sigma Chi fraternity, according to the organization's executive director, Michael Church. Jones was removed from the chapter's pledge program immediately after his arrest, he said.

"This is not going to be a normal day at NAU," said school President Rita Cheng. "Our hearts are heavy."

She called it an isolated and unprecedented incident and said classes were to go on as scheduled Friday.

NAU is a four-year public university that has more than 25,000 total undergraduate students at the campus in Flagstaff.

Student Maria Gonzalez said that she at first suspected firecrackers when the shooting happened.

"I was studying for an exam, so I looked out the window and see two people running, and that's when I realized they weren't fireworks, they were actually gunshots," she said.

In the Texas Southern University shooting, gunfire was reported about 11:30 a.m. in a parking lot at the University Courtyard Apartments, a university-owned student apartment building on the edge of the Houston campus.

Police have detained two men and are searching for a third person for questioning, but there is no active shooting investigation, police spokesman Jodi Silva said.

University President John Rudley said the school, which has about 9,700 students, is no longer on lockdown. But he criticized what he said was a culture among students who believe they shouldn't snitch on each other.

"We're in the inner city. Crime is all around us. Our students have to be more vigilant," he said during a news conference Friday afternoon.

Rudley said the student who was killed was a freshman at the school, though his name and age haven't been released. Silva said the second victim, whose name also hasn't been released, was shot twice and is hospitalized in stable condition.

The incident occurred just hours after another shooting near the same housing complex. It's unclear whether the shootings were related.

Classes were canceled after the second shooting. Rudley said classes would resume on a normal schedule Monday.

The shootings came on the same day that President Barack Obama visited Roseburg, Ore., where eight students and a teacher were shot and killed last week at Umpqua Community College.

Information for this article was contributed by Bob Seavey, Paul Davenport, Jim Anderson, Dan Elliott, Bob Lentz, Matt Small, David Warren and Mike Graczyk of The Associated Press.

A Section on 10/10/2015

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