The men appear to have driven up on a group of students near the University of Central Arkansas on Sunday night and fired at least eight rounds from a semiautomatic pistol, campus police Lieutenant Preston Grumbles said. A third person was shot in the leg.

'It appears that they were not the intended targets,' Lt. Grumbles said.

'It appears that, at this time in the investigation, that they were no way involved in the motive that we're formulating.'

Kawin Brockton, 19, Kelsey Perry, 19, Mario Toney, 20, and Brandon Wade, 20, were charged on Tuesday with capital murder and other felonies related to the shootings in Conway, about 48 km north of Little Rock.

They are accused of killing Ryan Henderson, 18, and Chavares Block, 19, and injuring Martrevis Norman, who has been released from the hospital.

Prosecutor Marcus Vaden said the defendants each has some sort of criminal record, although he declined to elaborate. The murder charges carry the death penalty although Vaden declined to say whether that was being considered.

'This is an incredibly heinous case,' Mr Vaden told reporters.

'When you have a situation where it appears some, if not all of the victims were innocent bystanders, that's bad.' The men remain in the Faulkner County jail. Police declined to identify their lawyers.

The university resumed classes on Tuesday. More than 300 students, faculty members and Conway residents filed into an auditorium in the afternoon to remember the two slain students. -- APw