Jaylin M. Wayne faces first-degree murder charges, Lincoln Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Stephen Williams said in a news release.
Williams said the shooting followed an altercation that started inside a dorm room and spilled out into a courtyard about midnight Tuesday. Wayne was a Grambling State student, he said
Sheriff Mike Stone said in a statement that the suspect and victims knew each other "to some extent." He stressed that the shooting wasn't random or an act of terrorism.
"There are no indicators that this incident bears any resemblance to any of the random acts of violence or domestic terrorism that have been experienced around our country in recent weeks," Stone said before the suspect's arrest.
RELATED: 2 killed on Grambling State campus
University spokesman Will Sutton identified the victims as Grambling junior Earl Andrews and Monquiarious Caldwell, both 23 and from Farmerville, Louisiana, about 30 miles from Grambling.
Classes at the historically black college were held as usual, but Grambling State's president said the campus will have "increased police and security" this week.
The university in northern Louisiana has an enrollment of nearly 5,000 students.
Andrews' brother, Ledarius Heard, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Andrews and Caldwell were friends from high school and cousins by marriage. Heard, 31, said his brother, who lived with him off campus in Ruston, was studying criminal justice and hoped to move to Texas after graduation to be closer to his 1-year-old son.
The deadly shootings happened during the school's homecoming week. Heard said Andrews typically came home immediately after his classes but had been on campus Tuesday night to hang out with friends during homecoming week.