Costumed students were still filling the streets of one college town after another when the gunfire started.
At least six separate shootings near major university campuses in Delaware, Michigan, Colorado, Alabama, Illinois and Indiana left three people dead and at least 30 others wounded over a weekend of Halloween parties, homecoming events and football rivalry games, and Birmingham police charged a 17-year-old with murder on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026.
A gunman opened fire on a packed downtown street near the University of Delaware in Newark, Del., at about 11 p.m. Oct. 31, wounding at least six people as students in costume ran for their lives.
A 16-year-old from Wilmington who was struck by gunfire has been charged with possessing a gun, and a University of Delaware student wounded in the back remains hospitalized with a collapsed lung. The university canceled classes Monday, Nov. 2, and is offering counseling.
A gunman wearing a Michael Myers mask fired near Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., on Halloween night, wounding one person, and a doorbell camera captured the scene near campus. A second person was wounded in a separate East Lansing shooting at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. It is not clear whether the two shootings were related.
“Two Senseless Acts” Outside Legion Field
Multiple shootings in the aftermath of the 85th Magic City Classic football game killed one person and wounded eight, one of them critically, in Birmingham, Ala., during the evening of Saturday, Oct. 31. The game sets Alabama A&M against Alabama State, two historically Black universities, and witnesses described chaotic scenes at a tailgate outside Legion Field shortly before 8 p.m.
Birmingham police identified the man killed outside Legion Field as Dre’ Shawn Thomas. One of the injured remains in critical condition and seven are stable, with ages ranging from 19 to 30.
The teenager taken into custody faces charges of murder and possession of a machine gun conversion device. Officers apprehended him in an alley shortly after the shots as he tried to flee, police said. Police have not identified the suspect, who is to be held without bond at the Jefferson County Jail.
Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett told a news conference late Monday, Nov. 2, that the charges came from the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office. Pickett said the night brought “two senseless acts of violence.”
Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin, in a statement posted on social media, said: “There is no argument, no beef, no misunderstanding that can justify this level of senseless violence during a night of celebration.”
A Cheerleader Who Was Just Visiting
Giana Dettloff, 19, of Carol Stream died in the shooting near Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington-Normal, Ill. Dettloff was a freshman and cheerleader at North Central College in Naperville, visiting a friend, and she was not an Illinois Wesleyan student.
McLean County Coroner Dr. Kathleen Yoder said Dettloff died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and pelvic region.
Two Illinois Wesleyan students and an Illinois State University student are among the injured. Investigators initially counted seven survivors and later discovered an eighth, bringing the number of people shot to nine, Bloomington, Ill., police Chief Jamal Simington said. The survivors range in age from 16 to 22 and had no prior connection to each other, he added.
“This party was noticeably peaceful, jovial, and there were no disturbances witnessed or reported prior to the shooting,” Simington said. No one was in custody as of midday Monday, Nov. 2.
Two Men Tried to Get Back In
Hundreds of students had turned out for a house party near the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo., when a gunman there killed a 19-year-old student and wounded a second student at around 11:30 p.m., according to police.
The party had already been shut down by officers, who told the crowd to go home. Police believe two men tried to force their way inside about 90 minutes later. Investigators have identified both suspects, and images of a person of interest wanted in connection with the shooting were released by the Boulder Police Department.
An AK-47-Style Pistol on a Victim
Four men and three women — at least seven people in all — were injured on Kirkwood Avenue near the Indiana University campus in Bloomington, Ind., at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1.
An argument broke out in a large crowd of Halloween revelers, and officers in the popular bar strip then heard “multiple gunshots,” Deputy Chief of Police Ryan Pedigo told WTHR. The victims range in age from 17 to 27. None of them are students, and none are from Bloomington.
Police took an 18-year-old into custody but have not said whether he is the gunman. Officers recovered shell casings of multiple calibers and an AR-15-style handgun at the scene, and police said they found an AK-47-style pistol on one of the victims.
