Alleged gunman charged in shooting on Bethune-Cookman University campus

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 21-year-old student was arrested Wednesday in connection to a shooting on the Bethune-Cookman University campus.

Police said Ladell Pleasure and another man exchanged gunfire on the campus last month.

Pleasure was charged with discharging a weapon on school property and was later charged with aggravated battery with a firearm.

He claims he was not the triggerman.

Photos: 3 wounded in Bethune-Cookman University shooting

Surveillance: Bethune-Cookman University shooting

Police said witnesses told them men inside a black Chevy and a silver car began firing at each other in a parking lot on the campus Feb. 23.

“These guys discharged their firearms in the middle of a very busy area with hundreds of students around. Literally 20, 30 could have gotten shot, if not killed,” said Sgt. Scott Goss of the Daytona Beach Police Department.

Police said one witness came forward and identified Pleasure.

“There’s one less gun-toting person running around a college campus,” Goss said.

Several people suffered minor injuries in the shooting, including roommates Juanye Jones and Dante Ridford, who said they were shot as they sat on the steps of the gym.

Jones still has a piece of bullet lodged in the side of head.

“I only really think about it when I try to lie on that side and I feel it,” said Jones.

He’ll have surgery to remove it during summer break.

Both students said they just want to move past that night.

“I’m just thankful and blessed that I wasn’t killed or any other person wasn’t killed,” said Ridford.

Police said there was a fight before the gunfire that was part of an ongoing feud between students and non-students from Miami and Bell Glade.

The other gunman is still at large.

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