A 20-year-old man now sits in jail without bond, charged with murder after a Winston-Salem State University homecoming celebration ended with a teenager shot dead on campus.
Story Snapshot
- Police arrested Ziyaire Antonyo Spinks, 20, and charged him with murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and carrying a gun on school property.
- 19-year-old Peyton Izaia Patterson died after being shot near South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on campus.
- 22-year-old Alyssa Janae Ellerbee was hurt in the same shooting but survived.
- A second man, 18-year-old Cequan Warren Brower, faces a lesser charge of affray with a $50,000 bond.
- Police say the campus shooting was an isolated event, separate from another shooting that same night near Hanes Mall.
What Police Say Happened That Night
Officers rushed to the 600 block of South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around 9:46 p.m. during Winston-Salem State’s homecoming weekend. They found Patterson suffering from a gunshot wound. Despite life-saving efforts, he died. Ellerbee was also hurt in the same incident. Investigators later said detectives determined the shooting was isolated, even as the broader weekend saw gunfire erupt at more than one location near the university.
Assistant Chief Jason Swaim said the investigation led detectives straight to Spinks. Officers arrested him and he’s now held without bond, facing the most serious charge available short of a death penalty case: general murder, plus assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, and felony possession of a firearm on educational property.
A Second Arrest With A Very Different Charge
Brower, 18, was also taken into custody, but his charge, affray, which means fighting in public, carries nowhere near the weight of a murder count. Police have not detailed whether Brower witnessed the shooting, took part in whatever argument preceded it, or had any direct hand in the gunfire that killed Patterson. That gap matters. An arrest is an accusation, not a verdict, and the full picture of who did what that night will play out in court.
Homecoming weekend brought a wave of violence to the area beyond the fatal campus shooting. News outlets reported a total of two dead and three hurt across separate shootings tied to the weekend, including gunfire near Hanes Mall. Early wire reports said it was too soon to know whether the incidents were connected, underscoring how fast-moving breaking news can blur details from distinct events into a single confusing narrative.
Why Campus Celebrations Keep Turning Deadly
This tragedy isn’t an isolated data point. National research tracking shootings on college campuses found that gun homicides and assaults, not planned mass-casualty attacks, make up more than half of all recorded incidents. Many shooters and victims have no formal tie to the school itself, meaning campus grounds sometimes simply become the backdrop for disputes that start elsewhere.
Historically Black colleges and universities carry a disproportionate share of this burden. One national analysis found HBCUs accounted for roughly 29 percent of identified campus gun incidents while representing only about 2 percent of American colleges overall. Homecoming weekends, with their large crowds, visiting alumni, and packed social calendars, have emerged as a recurring flashpoint, with dozens of shootings tied to homecoming events nationwide over the past decade.
That pattern should worry every parent sending a kid off to college for what’s supposed to be a weekend of school pride and reunions. Universities owe students more than ceremonial security. Real deterrence means visible police presence, metal detection at major events, and swift, serious prosecution when someone brings a gun onto a campus meant to be a place of learning, not a crime scene. Spinks now faces that reckoning in a Forsyth County courtroom, where the facts behind his arrest will be tested under oath.
Sources:
abcnews.com, wxii12.com, wfdd.org, cbs17.com, journals.sagepub.com
