Winston-Salem State University shut down the remainder of homecoming weekend and canceled Monday classes after two separate shootings on its North Carolina campus Saturday night left one person dead and three others wounded. Chancellor Bonita J. Brown called the violence “senseless” and pledged extra police patrols and counseling as investigators worked to determine whether the incidents were linked.
First shooting and arrest
Winston-Salem police said officers already on campus for homecoming heard gunfire just after 9:45 p.m. near the 600 block of South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. They found 19-year-old Peyton Izaia Patterson with a gunshot wound; emergency personnel could not save him. A 22-year-old woman, later identified as Alyssa Janae Ellerbee, was shot in the same episode, taken to a hospital and released after treatment.
Assistant Chief Jason Swaim told reporters Sunday that the confrontation grew out of an argument between two groups that were not part of the university’s student body. Police charged 20-year-old Ziyaire Antonyo Spinks with murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and felony possession of a firearm on an educational campus. Spinks is held without bond. Eighteen-year-old Cequan Warren Brower was charged with affray in connection with the fight; neither suspect was enrolled at the historically Black university, police said.
The university said Patterson was not a student, adding that the clarification “does not lessen the tragedy or its impact on our university and the broader Winston-Salem community.”
Second shooting still open
While detectives were still processing the first scene, officers reported another round of gunshots at 10:22 p.m. at the intersection of Victory Circle and Cromartie Street. Police said 21-year-old Najir Pearsall was critically wounded and 20-year-old Makyiah Ward, a newcomer on the women’s basketball team, was shot and listed in stable condition. A vehicle tied to that attack was stopped elsewhere in the city, but Swaim said no arrests had been made in the second case by Sunday afternoon and he could not say whether the shootings were connected.
Campus response
Brown canceled homecoming programming, including an event that had been scheduled at Emmanuel Baptist Church, and said Monday classes would not meet so students could seek support. Administrative offices remain open, with classes set to resume Tuesday at 8 a.m. Local media reported that a community prayer gathering would replace some of the canceled festivities.
Winston-Salem State, founded in 1892, enrolls roughly 5,000 students. The violence landed during one of its highest-profile weekends of the year, amplifying national attention on campus security at HBCUs and on the toll gun disputes take even when bystanders are not the intended targets.
North Carolina lawmakers have debated broader campus carry rules in recent sessions, but Saturday’s events are likely to refocus hearings on how universities coordinate with municipal police during large festivals. For now, investigators are asking anyone with cellphone video from either scene to submit it through the department’s tip line.