Students huddled together in the aisles of a campus library at Florida State University early Thursday, waiting to be led out safely after a gunman opened fire on campus.
The gunman injured three people before he was shot and killed by campus police, officials said. At least one of the victims is in critical condition.
The shooting took place either inside or near Strozier library which sits in the center of campus at the school in Tallahassee.
The school sent out a text to students, warning of a “dangerous situation on campus” and asking them to stay away from windows.
“FSU Alert Dangerous situation main campus-Tallahassee,” the text read. “Seek shelter immediately, away from doors and windows.”
Two of the shooting victims were taken to Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare. One was in critical condition; the other in stable condition, said hospital official Stephanie Derzypolski.
A cell phone camera video posted online — purportedly from inside the library — showed students sitting in library aisle listening intently to a voice over the loudspeakers.
“There has been a shooting in the library,” the voice says. “Stay where you are. We will be coming to each floor and clearing and taking care of anybody.”
Perry Kostidakis, a sports editor for the campus newspaper, told CNN the library was surrounded.
“The entire campus is empty; I’ve seen one or two people come up and look at the scene. Everyone who is in a campus building is under lockdown right now. Policemen are still surrounding the library.”
Graduate student Alex Lauren said students were escorted from the library to the first floor of a nearby building, where they continued hearing gunshots. They were told to wait for a bus to take them away from campus as armed police stood nearby.
“It was very scary … I’m more heartbroken more than anything else,” she said. “It’s sad, my heart goes out to the people affected.”
Student Blair Stokes his is not at all how I envisioned an evening of studying. I can’t understand why this happened.
Florida State is one of the top research universities in the nation. It has about 40,000 students spread out in various campuses in the city.
The school is also considered one of the nation’s top-ranked football team.