How football and homecoming campus celebrations are increasingly marred by gun violence

Tuskegee University’s 100th homecoming was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but Amaya Waymon couldn’t help feeling slightly uneasy in the large crowds that filled the campus that night in November 2024.

Waymon, a sophomore at the time, had gone with a friend to a gathering outside a campus residence and remembers suggesting they move to the relative calm of a friend’s apartment balcony. But before they could relocate, gunfire rang out and Waymon injured her leg as she sheltered under a car, she told CNN, recounting the evening nearly two years later. Though she was not shot, she was one of at least 16 people injured in the incident , which took an 18-year-old’s life.

“Celebrating the centennial is supposed to be full of life and happiness and pride,” Waymon said. “…Someone that we don’t know decided to come onto our campus and do something so horrendous.”

Allen Eyestone/Palm Beach Post/USA Today Network/Imagn images

As school shootings have increased nationwide in recent years, shootings have become more common occurrences at homecoming and football-related events, too, according to a CNN analysis of shootings on elementary through college campuses. This year so far, CNN has recorded three instances of shootings on school campuses related to football or homecoming events — a tally that doesn’t even include last weekend’s mass shooting at a high school homecoming block party in Georgia, because it was not on a school campus.

The 2024 Tuskegee shooting was one of at least 86 campus shootings associated with football or homecoming events since CNN began tracking school shootings in 2008 , which have resulted in at least 30 deaths and 149 injuries over 18 years. These incidents account for many of the shootings in fall months, and have become more common this decade: 63 of the 86 shootings occurred in 2021 or later.

A new report out this week from Everytown for Gun Safety and first reported exclusively by CNN, also found that on-campus gun violence is rising and that nearly half of the shootings that happen in October — which had the highest number of shootings of any month over the last ten years — occurred during a school’s homecoming week, according to their analysis of gun violence on college campuses. CNN’s data, which reviews and independently vets events reported by Everytown, the Gun Violence Archive and Education Week, also found that October was the most common month for school shootings over the past 18 years.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that the data are telling us that football games themselves are dangerous,” said Sonali Rajan, a professor focusing on gun violence at Columbia University.

Rather, it’s that these gatherings — often at night, sometimes with alcohol involved — create opportunities for conflict from the community to spill onto campus with deadly outcomes.

“If a firearm is introduced into an otherwise ordinary conflict… that’s when the consequences are obviously very tragic,” Rajan told CNN.

The nature of these shootings during fall events varies depending on the type of campus. At colleges and universities, homecoming events — outside of the football game — were more affected, while on K-12 campuses, shootings at football games were more frequent. Despite the differing settings, experts say that the root causes remain the same.

Gun violence on school campuses is less often a pre-planned attack, Rajan said, and instead typically stems from the same sources that off-campus gun violence does: interpersonal disputes, domestic violence, gang violence and petty crimes, among other issues. As a result, rates of gun violence on campus are driven by factors that influence overall rates of community violence — like poverty, lack of affordable housing or other social, economic or environmental factors, according to Megan O’Toole, Deputy Director of Research at Everytown, who co-authored the new report.

“This idea that violence stops or starts at the school door — that is not how it works,” Rajan said.

Julia Nikhinson/AP/FILE

Everytown’s report found that more than 80% of homecoming week college shootings took place at Historically Black College and Universities, or HBCUs , like Tuskegee University. CNN’s school shooting database — which goes back to 2008 — reflected a similar trend: Of 14 incidents CNN identified that were associated with non-football homecoming events, all but one occurred on HBCU campuses.

A week before the 2024 incident at Tuskegee, one person was shot and injured at Shaw University, a HBCU in Raleigh, North Carolina. And the previous month, one person was killed and ten others were injured by gunfire in homecoming-related shootings at HBCUs North Carolina Central University, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Albany State University in Georgia. The previous October — in 2023 — saw shootings at two Maryland HBCU homecomings, Morgan State University and Bowie State University, within the same week. At Morgan State, the 2023 mass shooting followed a 2022 homecoming shooting that injured one person.

“It makes me feel just disheartened knowing that it’s not being addressed the way that it needs to, especially when it comes to HBCUs,” Waymon said.

Experts say addressing this kind of on-campus gun violence starts with addressing violence in the surrounding community.

“The experience of campus boundaries versus the community right beside it is really fluid, for college students,” said O’Toole. “They’re really interrelated, which is part of why we think it’s important to address gun violence on campus by also addressing what’s happening in the community at large as well.”

While college campuses are often affected by incidents at big homecoming gatherings, CNN’s data showed just four shooting incidents at colleges and universities associated with football games themselves since 2008. But on K-12 campuses, there were nearly 70 events that happened around football games.

The images are harrowing: Cheerleaders fleeing, students huddled under bleacher benches and players staying low on the field to avoid gunfire.

At least part of the difference between colleges and K-12 schools is a matter of security resources, according to David Riedman, an Idaho State University assistant professor who tracks and analyzes shooting incidents on K-12 school campuses.

A large Division I football program will typically have robust infrastructure to secure games. Meanwhile, many of the shootings at K-12 high school games occur in parking lots — around half according to Riedman’s numbers — so even if the playing field is secured, the game may still be affected.

But the sources of gun violence are largely the same: “It’s just about the volume of people that are there,” Riedman said.

In other words, football and homecoming don’t create gun violence, these events are just a common setting for it, when community members who may have pre-existing conflicts come into contact. After the fall season ends, basketball season is affected by gun violence in the winter. Since 2008, CNN has identified at least 34 instances of shootings associated with basketball games across K-12 and college campuses, resulting in at least nine deaths and 45 injuries.

And while high school football is affected by gun violence on Fridays, it’s not just Friday night lights: On one Saturday in October 2024, two people were killed and two were injured across three shootings at youth football games across the country. Including those three, there have been at least 10 total incidents related to youth football events, since 2008.

“Football games, homecoming, basketball games, seeing your friends on a Friday night — these are such core experiences that all kids and their parents and their families and all communities deserve to have and deserve to enjoy safely,” Rajan said.

Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP

As devastating as this violence is, Rajan believes it is preventable.

“The thing that gives me a lot of hope is that there are a lot of solutions,” she said. “We just need to do all of them.”

Riedman said he has cold-emailed security professionals at established sports leagues in hopes that they could create a best practices handbook or workshop to help local law enforcement, schools and youth sports organizers better handle emergencies at sporting events.

“It seems like billion-dollar football organizations could help for essentially no cost to them,” Riedman said.

But most experts agree: The best solution is policies that address the root causes of gun violence. That includes community violence prevention to stop conflicts from boiling over into violence on school campuses and policies that keep firearms from the hands of bad actors who would bring them to a football game or homecoming party.

“It gets the attention once it’s happened rather than getting the attention on a regular day when nothing is occurring, and that’s a problem,” Waymon, the Tuskegee University student, said.

Waymon is now a senior studying political science and hopes to become an attorney. She missed last year’s homecoming to attend a public policy conference at Harvard University but plans to attend this year’s celebrations.

“Now it’s almost two years out from that happening, especially because I couldn’t attend last year, so that’s something that I’m looking forward to,” she said.

Methodology | CNN has maintained a database of shootings on school campuses since 2008. CNN cross checks reports of school shootings from the Gun Violence Archive, Everytown for Gun Safety and Education Week against school and police accounts and media reports. All incidents of gun violence at schools are included in CNN’s broader on-campus gun violence database if they occurred on school property, from kindergartens through colleges/universities, and at least one person was shot, not including the shooter. School property includes but is not limited to, buildings, fields, parking lots, stadiums and buses. Accidental discharges of firearms are included, as long as at least one person is shot, but not if the sole shooter is law enforcement or school security.

Shootings were considered football or homecoming-related if they happened immediately before, during or after a football or homecoming-related event on campus. Shootings immediately outside the event venue, such as the stadium parking lot were included. Shootings at intramural football, practices, and non-school football programs on school campuses counted as football-related events, and shootings at unsanctioned on-campus homecoming celebrations were also considered homecoming-related incidents.

Data for this article was last updated on October 2, 2026.

2024 年 11 月的那个晚上，塔斯基吉大学迎来了第 100 届返校节，这本应是一个欢乐的盛会，但阿玛雅·韦蒙在校园里熙熙攘攘的人群中却感到有些不安。

当时还是大二学生的韦蒙和朋友一起去校园宿舍外参加聚会，她记得自己提议去朋友公寓的阳台上避避风雨。但就在他们准备转移的时候，枪声响起，韦蒙躲在一辆车下时腿部受伤。近两年后，她向CNN回忆了当晚的情景。虽然她没有中枪，但她是这起事件中至少16名伤者之一，事件还夺去了一名18岁青年的生命。

韦蒙说：“百年校庆本应充满生机、欢乐和自豪。……却有一个我们不认识的人来到我们的校园，做了如此可怕的事情。”

Allen Eyestone/棕榈滩邮报/今日美国网络/Imagn images

近年来，随着全美校园枪击案的增加，枪击事件在返校节和橄榄球相关活动中也变得越来越常见。CNN对从小学到大学校园的枪击案进行分析后发现，今年迄今为止，CNN已记录到三起与橄榄球或返校节活动相关的校园枪击案——这一数字甚至还不包括上周末发生在佐治亚州一所高中返校节街区派对上的大规模枪击案，因为该事件并非发生在校园内。

自 CNN 于 2008 年开始追踪校园枪击事件以来，至少发生了 86 起与橄榄球赛或返校节活动相关的校园枪击事件，其中包括 2024 年的塔斯基吉大学枪击案。这些事件在过去 18 年中造成至少 30 人死亡，149 人受伤。这些事件在秋季月份发生的枪击事件中占很大比例，并且在本世纪变得更加普遍：86 起枪击事件中有 63 起发生在 2021 年或之后。

本周，由“为枪支安全而战”（Everytown for Gun Safety）组织发布、并由CNN独家率先报道的一份新报告显示，校园枪支暴力事件正在上升。该报告分析了大学校园枪支暴力事件，指出近一半发生在10月份的枪击案——10月份是过去十年中枪击案数量最多的月份——都发生在学校的返校节期间。CNN的数据经过审查和独立核实，数据来源包括“为枪支安全而战”（Everytown）、“枪支暴力档案”（Gun Violence Archive）和“教育周刊”（Education Week）。报告还发现，10月份是过去18年中校园枪击案发生率最高的月份。

“我并不认为数据表明足球比赛本身很危险，”哥伦比亚大学专门研究枪支暴力的教授索纳利·拉詹说。

相反，这些聚会——通常在晚上举行，有时还有酒精——会给社区冲突带来机会，使冲突蔓延到校园，造成致命后果。

拉詹告诉 CNN：“如果枪支被引入到一场原本普通的冲突中……那后果显然会非常悲惨。”

秋季活动中发生的枪击事件性质因校园类型而异。在大学校园，除橄榄球赛以外的返校节活动受影响更大；而在中小学校园，橄榄球赛期间的枪击事件更为常见。尽管环境不同，但专家表示，其根本原因仍然相同。

拉詹表示，校园枪击事件较少是预谋袭击，其根源通常与校外枪击事件相同：人际纠纷、家庭暴力、帮派暴力和轻微犯罪等。据Everytown研究副主任梅根·奥图尔（她也是这份新报告的合著者）称，因此，校园枪击事件的发生率受到影响社区整体暴力事件发生率的因素驱动，例如贫困、缺乏经济适用房或其他社会、经济或环境因素。

拉詹说：“认为暴力行为止于或始于学校门口的想法——事实并非如此。”

Julia Nikhinson/美联社/档案照片

Everytown 的报告发现，超过 80% 的大学返校周枪击案发生在传统黑人大学（HBCU），例如塔斯基吉大学。CNN 的校园枪击案数据库（可追溯至 2008 年）也反映了类似的趋势：在 CNN 确定的 14 起与非橄榄球返校活动相关的枪击案中，除一起外，其余全部发生在 HBCU 校园。

在2024年塔斯基吉大学枪击案发生的前一周，北卡罗来纳州罗利市的一所传统黑人大学——肖恩大学发生枪击事件，造成一人受伤。而在此前一个月，北卡罗来纳中央大学、阿肯色大学派恩布拉夫分校和佐治亚州奥尔巴尼州立大学这三所传统黑人大学在返校节期间发生枪击事件，造成一人死亡，十人受伤。2023年10月，马里兰州的两所传统黑人大学——摩根州立大学和鲍伊州立大学——在同一周内也发生了返校节枪击事件。在摩根州立大学，2023年的大规模枪击事件发生在2022年返校节枪击事件之后，当时也发生了一起造成一人受伤的枪击事件。

“一想到这个问题没有得到应有的解决，我就感到非常沮丧，尤其是在黑人学院和大学（HBCU）方面，”韦蒙说。

专家表示，解决校园枪支暴力问题，首先要解决周边社区的暴力问题。

奥图尔说：“对大学生来说，校园边界与毗邻社区之间的界限非常模糊。它们密切相关，这也是为什么我们认为，解决校园枪支暴力问题的同时，也必须关注整个社区的情况。”

虽然大学校园经常受到返校节大型集会事件的影响，但 CNN 的数据显示，自 2008 年以来，与橄榄球比赛本身相关的大学校园枪击事件仅有四起。但在中小学校区，橄榄球比赛前后发生的事件却接近 70 起。

画面令人毛骨悚然：啦啦队员四散奔逃，学生们蜷缩在看台长椅下，球员们在场上保持低姿以躲避枪击。

据爱达荷州立大学助理教授大卫·里德曼 (David Riedman) 称，大学和 K-12 学校之间的差异至少部分在于安全资源，他专门追踪和分析 K-12 学校校园内的枪击事件。

大型一级联赛橄榄球项目通常会配备完善的安保设施来保障比赛安全。而中小学生比赛中发生的枪击事件大多发生在停车场——根据里德曼的数据，大约有一半发生在停车场——因此，即使比赛场地安保到位，比赛仍可能受到影响。

但枪支暴力的根源大体相同：“这完全取决于那里的人口数量，”里德曼说。

换句话说，橄榄球赛和返校节本身并不会导致枪支暴力，这些活动只是枪支暴力的常见温床，因为原本就存在冲突的社区成员会在这些场合相遇。秋季赛季结束后，冬季的篮球赛季也会受到枪支暴力的影响。自2008年以来，CNN已确认至少有34起与中小学和大学校园篮球比赛相关的枪击事件，造成至少9人死亡、45人受伤。

虽然高中橄榄球比赛在周五晚上会受到枪支暴力事件的影响，但受影响的并非只有周五晚上的比赛：2024年10月的一个周六，全国各地青少年橄榄球比赛中发生了三起枪击事件，造成两人死亡，两人受伤。算上这三起事件，自2008年以来，与青少年橄榄球赛事相关的枪击事件至少有10起。

拉詹说：“足球比赛、返校节、篮球比赛、周五晚上和朋友们见面——这些都是所有孩子、他们的父母、他们的家庭以及所有社区都应该拥有并安全地享受的核心体验。”

伊丽莎白·罗伯逊/《费城问询报》通过美联社

尽管这种暴力事件令人痛心，但拉詹认为它是可以预防的。

“让我感到充满希望的是，有很多解决办法，”她说。“我们只需要把所有办法都实施一遍。”

里德曼表示，他曾向一些知名体育联盟的安全专家发送过电子邮件，希望他们能够制定一本最佳实践手册或举办研讨会，以帮助当地执法部门、学校和青少年体育组织者更好地处理体育赛事中的紧急情况。

里德曼说：“看起来，拥有数十亿美元资产的足球组织几乎可以零成本地提供帮助。”

但大多数专家一致认为：最佳解决方案是制定政策，从根源上解决枪支暴力问题。这包括社区暴力预防，以防止冲突在校园内演变成暴力事件；以及防止枪支落入不法分子手中，以免他们将枪支带到橄榄球赛或返校节派对等场合。

“只有当事情发生之后，人们才会关注它，而不是在平常无事的日子里关注它，这是一个问题，”塔斯基吉大学的学生韦蒙说道。

韦蒙目前是一名政治学专业的大四学生，她希望将来成为一名律师。去年，她因为参加哈佛大学举办的公共政策会议而错过了返校节，但她计划参加今年的庆祝活动。

“现在距离那件事发生还有将近两年时间，尤其是我去年没能参加，所以我很期待，”她说。

方法论 | 自2008年以来，CNN一直维护着一个校园枪击事件数据库。CNN会将来自“枪支暴力档案”、“Everytown for Gun Safety”和“教育周”的校园枪击事件报告与学校和警方的记录以及媒体报道进行交叉核对。所有发生在学校范围内的枪击事件，无论学校是幼儿园还是大学，只要至少有一人中枪（不包括枪手），都会被纳入CNN更广泛的校园枪击事件数据库。学校范围包括但不限于建筑物、操场、停车场、体育场和校车。意外走火事件也会被纳入，只要至少有一人中枪，但如果唯一的枪手是执法人员或学校保安人员则不计入。

如果枪击事件发生在校园内橄榄球或返校节相关活动之前、期间或之后，则被视为与橄榄球或返校节相关。发生在活动场地外的枪击事件，例如体育场停车场内的枪击事件，也包含在内。校内橄榄球比赛、训练以及校园内非学校橄榄球项目的枪击事件均被视为与橄榄球相关的事件，未经批准的校园返校节庆祝活动中的枪击事件也被视为与返校节相关的事件。

本文数据最后更新于 2026 年 10 月 2 日。