One dead, three wounded in two shootings during Winston-Salem State homecoming weekend

A 19-year-old man was shot and killed on the campus of Winston-Salem State University Saturday night, and a second, separate shooting on campus less than an hour later left two more people hurt, as the historically Black university's homecoming weekend turned violent and administrators canceled Monday classes.

Winston-Salem police said officers who were on campus for homecoming events heard gunfire around 9:45 p.m. near the center of the Winston-Salem, North Carolina campus and found the victim with a gunshot wound. He died at the scene. A 22-year-old woman was also shot in the same incident; she was taken to a hospital, treated and later released, according to an Associated Press account carried by WRAL and corroborated by Winston-Salem television station WXII 12.

One arrest, two shootings

Police arrested Ziyaire Spinks, 20, on Sunday and said he is being held without bond on charges of murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of a firearm on educational property. Officers said Spinks is not a university student and that the shooting grew out of an argument between two groups of people on campus. Police had not disclosed a motive beyond that confrontation as of Sunday night.

Less than an hour after the first shooting, officers responded to a second, separate shooting elsewhere on campus after an altercation turned into gunfire, injuring two more people. No arrests had been made in that case as of Sunday night, and police said they are investigating whether the two shootings are connected.

A weekend built around homecoming turns violent

Homecoming weekend at a historically Black university is typically the highest-traffic stretch of the academic year, drawing current students, alumni, high school recruits and vendors to a campus that is otherwise far quieter. University officials canceled the remainder of Sunday's homecoming activities after the shootings and later announced that classes would not resume until 8 a.m. Tuesday, keeping campus operations and administrative offices open Monday but with no classes held.

Chancellor Bonita J. Brown called the shootings "senseless violence" in a statement to the campus community, and Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. appealed directly for support.

"Right now, the community is in need of your prayers," Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. said.

Winston-Salem Police Chief William Penn Jr. urged residents not to get ahead of the investigation, saying it was important that the blame for the tragedy go to the right people rather than assumptions made before all the facts are known. The university said additional law enforcement would remain on campus during the investigation and that counseling would be available to students and staff who need it.

Charges and the weapons case

North Carolina treats carrying a firearm onto a school or university campus as a distinct felony, separate from any charge tied to how the weapon was used. Under North Carolina General Statute 14-269.2, it is a Class I felony to knowingly possess a gun, rifle, pistol or other firearm on educational property, a charge prosecutors routinely add on top of more serious counts in campus shootings, which is what happened in Spinks' case, where it was filed alongside murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Anyone booked on state charges in Winston-Salem is processed through the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office detention facilities, which the sheriff's office operates separately from city police.

Winston-Salem State is one of 17 constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina System, which requires each of its campuses to comply with the federal Clery Act. Under the system's own description of its oversight role, the UNC System's safety and emergency operations office advises individual campuses on security coordination and confirms each institution discloses annual crime statistics and issues timely warnings to students and staff about reported threats.

Not the first shooting on this campus

Saturday's violence was not an isolated event in WSSU's history. A shooting during homecoming weekend in November 2015 killed 19-year-old student Anthony White Jr. and wounded another student near a campus parking lot; a then-21-year-old former student, Jarrett Jerome Moore, was later charged with murder and possession of a weapon on school grounds in that case. More recently, a gunshot wound found in a study area of the Rams Commons 3 residence hall in April 2025 led police to a warrant for Ja'lon Stallings, then a 19-year-old WSSU student, who turned himself in days later and was also charged with misdemeanor drug possession; a separate, non-fatal shooting at Covington Hall in February 2025 was described by police as accidental. Neither of those 2025 incidents was fatal, but the repetition has fed a broader, national conversation about gun violence at and around college campuses, including other historically Black universities whose homecoming weekends have also been marred by shootings in recent years.

Nationally, firearm deaths have remained near record levels among younger Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's firearm mortality data, drawn from the National Vital Statistics System, tracks age-adjusted firearm death rates by state and shows wide variation across the country, a reminder of how unevenly gun violence is distributed even as it continues to reach campuses nationwide.

What happens next

With no classes Monday, Winston-Salem State's campus police and the Winston-Salem Police Department are expected to continue investigating both shootings in the days ahead, including whether they are connected. A court date for Spinks had not been scheduled as of Sunday night, and he remained held without bond. The university has not said when any homecoming events postponed by the shootings might be rescheduled.

For a campus that had spent the weekend celebrating, the shootings leave the university bracing for a muted start to the week: one student dead, three other people wounded, one man held without bond, and a police investigation into a second, still unsolved shooting that has only just begun.