Three Southeast students arrested after Carbondale shooting

Three Southeast Missouri State University students have been connected to an early morning shooting on Sunday, March 27, in Carbondale, Illinois, which resulted in one fatality and another injured with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Southeast students John F. Ingram, 21, of Webster Groves, Missouri, and Travis T. Tyler, 21, of Hazelwood, Missouri, were identified as suspects and have been charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm. Both have turned themselves in to the Jackson County Jail in Murphysboro, Illinois.

Southeast student Dwayne J. Dunn, 21, of St. Louis, has been arrested and charged with reckless discharge of a firearm. Dunn was arrested during the initial stage of the investigation.

A fourth suspect who is not a Southeast student, Daniel D. Holmes, 21, of Carbondale, has an active warrant for his arrest and currently is at large.

According to a Carbondale Police Department press release, officers responded to a shots fired complaint at approximately 2 a.m. March 27. Officers located a "very large party occurring and saw multiple people leaving the scene." The officers then learned a physical altercation had taken place inside the residence, which first resulted in shots fired inside the house and later outside where more shots were fired. A man in a neighboring residence was the victim of the fatal gunshot wound.

Beth Glaus, assistant director of support and civilian personnel for Southeast's Department of Public Safety, said DPS received a call from Carbondale police later that day, saying Southeast students were believed to be witnesses to the incident.

Glaus said DPS, along with the Cape Girardeau Police Department and the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Police Department, has been assisting the Carbondale Police Department since then.

"Obviously when you're traveling from an hour away you need some physical facilities, so we provided our office for them to work out of," Glaus said. "We turned our conference room over to them, our interview room was available to them if they wanted to talk to students and [they could use] any other supporting infrastructure that we have."

Glaus said Southeast provided two investigators to identify students who could help with the investigation. DPS also helped facilitate interviews with those students, who Glaus said cooperated with the investigation.

"We were obviously familiar with our students and familiar with our campus and how to get those connections to take place," Glaus said.

Glaus said that as Southeast students were found to be potential suspects, DPS helped create a photographic lineup to be used to identify the individuals. DPS also wrote and executed search warrants for the investigation.

"We are fortunate that these kind of things do not happen at Southeast," Glaus said. "It's not like we're really investigating these kind of crimes, but, on the other hand, any police officer in the state knows what the law requires when a crime is being investigated and what steps need to be taken to have a sound and solid case brought forward."

Southeast placed all three students on interim suspension, which included them not being allowed on campus until the completion of the criminal investigation, and issued a campus alert to students on March 30. At that time, Ingram and Tyler were still at large.

"We wanted to make sure the campus understood that we did not have safety concerns on campus," Kathy Mangels, vice president of finance and administration, said. "That while these individuals were Southeast students, that we had done our due diligence that there were no safety concerns. And we also very much wanted to encourage the campus that if anyone had information to please come forward to the Carbondale police."

Glause said Southeast is continuing to help with the investigation by finalizing paperwork and reports on what they found.

"It's an unfortunate and unpleasant circumstance having to deal with these things on a college campus, but a great number of dedicated professionals kept focus during this time and really brought about a quick recovery to the situation," Glaus said.