Be the first to know: Stories from The Washington Informer in your inbox each weekday. Black News, Commentary and Culture | The Washington Informer Two suspects are in custody for a shooting near Howard University in Northwest D.C, that left five people hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries on Friday night, according to Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela A. Smith. Around 8:23 p.m., moments after streets reopened following the daylong Yardfest, police reportedly responded to sounds of gunfire in the 600 block of Howard Place NW, near the university’s main campus – known as ‘the Yard’ – and College of Engineering and Architecture. The incident countered an otherwise joyous occasion for the thousands gathered to celebrate the institution’s 101st homecoming, which included Friday’s beloved Yardfest and subsequent Alumni Welcome Reception, the latter taking place a block away from the shooting. “Unbelievable,” Troy Donte’ Prestwood, president of Ward 8 Dems, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in a post showing footage of the crime scene on Oct. 24. “Prayerfully it looks like no deaths. It’s insane that this happened on such a nice day.” According to his post, Prestwood was leaving the alumni event when he received the 8:35 p.m. campus alert about increased police presence due to reports of open gunfire. Authorities confirmed two people were arrested in connection with the shooting and three weapons were recovered from the scene. A motive is not known at this time but investigators will be recovering surveillance footage from the area. While Smith said none of the five victims — three men, one woman, and a juvenile male — were Howard students, one attended Baltimore’s Morgan State University, the opposing team of the Oct. 25 homecoming football game. “Whether they’re young people or adults with guns, we need folks to put these guns down in our in our city,” said the police chief in a news conference near campus Friday night. “What we do know is that this is Howard’s homecoming, and most of the homecoming festivities around our cities are joyous occasions for our families to come out and enjoy a good time.”