Alleged Pool Party Murder Spree Near Auburn University Leaves Three Dead
ByPolice are searching for an Alabama man who they believe shot six people, killing three of them, in a weekend shooting at an off-campus pool party near Auburn University on Saturday that a witness says began with a fight over a woman.
Two of the slain victims were former Auburn football players.
Of the three wounded victims, John Robertson remained in critical condition after being shot in the head. Xavier Moss was released from the hospital. The third wounded victim was Eric Mack, a current football player who is expected to recover.
Auburn, Ala., Police Chief Tommy Dawson said three warrants, charging Desmonte Leonard with capital murder, have been signed. He warned that Leonard should be considered "armed and extremely dangerous."
Dawson said Leonard fled the scene in a white Chevrolet that he abandoned on the way back to Montgomery, about 55 miles away. They believed he is in the Montgomery area.
Dawson said he did not know why the party was being held or what started the fight.
Turquorius Vines, 23, said he was at the party Saturday evening at the University Heights apartments with a friend. He said two other men who started arguing with them over a woman approached him and his friend.
Vines said he punched one of the men, while his friend hit both of the men over the head with a bottle. Either one or both of the two men then started shooting, he said. He said his friend, 20-year-old Demario Pitts, was shot and killed, while two others also were hit by gunfire. Vines said he had never met the men he was arguing with.
Police emphasized that the shootings didn't appear to have anything to do with some of the victims being former or current players on the football team, which won the national championship in 2010.