Police hunt for suspected Auburn gunman

Todd J. Van Emst / Auburn University via AP file

Edward Christian, 20 left, an Auburn University student and former football player, was fatally shot at a pool party near the university on Saturday night. Eric Mack, 20, center, was treated and released; Ladarious Phillips, 20, a student and former offensive fullback for the football team, was also killed.

By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com

Desmonte Leonard, suspected of fatally shooting three people, including two former Auburn University football players, may have fled to Montgomery, Ala., where he lives, Auburn police say.

Police have arrested two men in connection with the shooting: Jeremy Thomas, 18, is being questioned for hindering prosecution, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, and Gabriel Thomas, 41, was arrested late Sunday for allegedly providing false information to police.

Auburn Police Chief Tommy Dawson said nine police agencies are involved in the search for Leonard.

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The shooting occurred before midnight on Saturday at the University Heights apartments, a large?complex near campus favored by Auburn University's students and athletes.

Leonard, 22, is suspected of pulling a gun after a fight broke out, shooting six before fleeing in a white Chevrolet Caprice, Dawson said at a news conference on Sunday.?Montgomery police previously?arrested Leonard in 2008 for carrying a gun without a license, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press.

When police arrived, Edward Christian, 20, was found dead on the sidewalk. Christian was a student and former offensive lineman for the celebrated Auburn Tigers.

Ladarious Phillips and DeMario Pitts, both 20, were transported to the hospital, where they later died. Phillips was a student and former backup fullback who gave up football in April, according to his coach. Pitts lived in Auburn.

Three young men, including two students, were killed and three others wounded in a Saturday night shooting in Auburn, Ala. A manhunt was underway for the suspect. NBC's Mark Potter reports.

Turquorius Vines, who was at the party, told the Journal-Constitution that the fight erupted because of a girl.

The night, he said, ?went from us chilling with all these females to a massacre for no reason at all. It happened so quick, in about a second.?

For Vines, the shooting has left him reeling.

"It's like I lost a lung," he said. "I don't know how I'm going to survive this."

Among the wounded, John Robertson, 20, remained in critical condition on Monday after being shot in the head. Xavier Moss, 19, was released from the hospital after the shooting. Eric Mack, 20, an offensive lineman for the Auburn Tigers who was shot in the buttocks, was released late Sunday afternoon.

Mack is a junior offensive lineman from St. Matthews, S.C. He played in five games last season. Coach Gene Chizik said on Sunday that Mack was expected to make a full recovery.

Dawson said he believed the shooting was ?a fight that obviously got out of hand.?

The shooting has shaken Auburn, a city of 50,000 that revolves around the football team. The Auburn Tigers have won three national championships, most recently in 2011 against the University of Oregon. Cam Newton, a quarterback, won the coveted Heisman Trophy that year.? ?

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