Two More TJC Footballers Indicted for September Shooting Incident

TYLER – New details have been released regarding a September 2016 shooting on the Tyler Junior College campus. The Smith County Sheriff’s Office tells our news partner KETK two additional people, identified as TJC students and football players, were arrested in December and have been indicted in connection with the shooting. Lorenzo Hicks was arrested in Dallas County and Anthony Mitchell was arrested in Harris County. Both men were charged with possession of a handgun without a license on a college campus. Both football players were part of TJC football’s 2016 signing class. This makes three arrests in this case.

According to the indictment, Tyler police were called to the TJC campus on reports of a shooting outside Sledge Hall, the football dorm, on September 13. Security footage shows a group of men getting into a fight outside of the building, the indictment states. According to the video, 19-year-old Tyron Shead can be seen running toward the brawl. He is armed with a gun, drops it, then picks it up and fires hitting an air conditioning unit. Officials say video then shows Shead going into the dorm, dropping the gun, and running upstairs. No injuries occurred and no arrests were immediately made.

It wasn’t until November 10, nearly two months after the shooting, that police arrested Shead, who’s also a TJC student. He was arrested by TJC Campus Police and charged with possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence. The tampering with evidence charge was added after investigators say he sold the weapon used in the shooting.

Following the shooting, TJC released a statement regarding the incident:

“TJC Campus Police are conducting an investigation regarding shots fired on campus Monday evening at 11:42 p.m. The incident involved unidentified male subjects coming to campus to confront a TJC student outside of a residence hall.

“TJC Campus Police responded immediately to the scene, secured the scene and also called Tyler Police to respond. The unidentified subjects fled the scene and TJC Campus Police made a determination that this was an incident isolated to a dispute initially involving a few individuals, male subjects and a female subject, and that the incident did not pose an immediate threat to students throughout the campus. There were no injuries.

“Safety is of paramount concern to TJC and the College has zero tolerance for any behavior which violates school policies and criminal behavior.

“While it is still an ongoing investigation, TJC has taken immediate action to suspend students involved in the incident. Following further investigation, TJC will pursue all available actions including enforcement of any violations of school rules and policies as well as full prosecution of any criminal behavior.”

However, on Friday, KETK was told the tampering charge against Shead was dropped after TJC police declined to prosecute due to lack of evidence.