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(DAILY_WILDCAT)

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By Bryon Wells
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 16, 1998

2 shot outside Park Union

Two Tucson men were shot late Friday night when an argument at a UA sorority-sponsored dance escalated into gunfire outside the Park Student Union.

No one was seriously injured, and university police nabbed two alleged shooters minutes later.

A University of Arizona Police Department officer working off duty at the Delta Sigma Theta dance reported shots fired outside the building about midnight, and witnesses told police they saw two men flee from the scene in an older-model American car, said Cmdr. Brian Seastone, a university police spokesman.

An argument between the two parties broke out during the dance and then was taken outside to the alley between the Park Student Union, 615 N. Park Ave., and Kaibab-Huachuca Residence Hall, 922 E. Fourth St., Seastone said.

Seastone said the two victims, both Tucson residents, were taken to University Medical Center, treated for wounds to the leg and foot and then released. Police did not release their names.

Neither the victims nor the alleged shooters are UA students, and the incident appears to be gang-related, Seastone said.

It was not known how the non-students got into the party or if they were supposed to be there, Seastone said.

Police located Osahafo J. Brewer, 17, of the 3100 block of North Wilson Street, and Xamaca L. Carpenter, 20, of the 1900 block of East Hidalgo Vista, "minutes away" from the incident, near North Euclid Avenue and East University Boulevard, Seastone said.

Police recovered a semi-automatic handgun and a revolver in their vehicle, he added.

Brewer and Carpenter were each arrested on one count of felony endangerment, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault and taken to the Pima County Jail, where they remained last night in lieu of $500,000 bond each.

Journalism freshman Keith Carmona said he was sitting in his second-floor room at Kaibab-Huachuca when the altercation broke out just below his window.

Carmona said about 50 to 75 people from the dance followed the fight as it moved outside the Park Student Union.

He said he heard someone get slammed up against a metal gate below his window, and people were shouting "this is a one-on-one fight, stay the fuck away," before he heard 10 to 12 shots.

"I was sitting on my bed when I heard the shots," Carmona said. "I screamed - and then dived on the floor because I didn't want to get caught in the crossfire."

After the shooting stopped, Carmona said he saw people running away in every direction, and police arrived seconds later.

Representatives of Delta Sigma Theta could not be reached for comment yesterday.


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