By Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY
A triple homicide has rattled Auburn, Ala., where the suspect was
still on the loose Sunday night after a shooting at a party near Auburn
University.
Among the dead are two members of the university's 2010 national championship football team.
Police
were searching for Desmonte Leonard, 22, of Montgomery. Police Chief
Tommy Dawson said Leonard shot six people, three fatally, during a fight
at a pool party Saturday. He faces three counts of capital murder.
Killed were former Auburn football players Ed Christian and Ladarious Phillips, and Auburn resident Demario Pitts.
Current player Eric Mack was hospitalized, Dawson said. Head coach Gene Chizik said Mack was expected to make a full recovery.
Also
wounded: John Robertson and Xavier Moss. Robertson was in critical
condition with a head wound, police said. Moss was released from the
hospital.
"This is a sad, sad day for everyone associated with the
entire Auburn family," Chizik said. "We have a lot of people on our
football team that are hurting right now, and we're going to do
everything we can to help them get through this."
Turquorius Vines, 23, said he and Pitts were approached by two men at the party who started arguing with them over a woman.