SEATTLE – A lone gunman armed with a shotgun and knife opened fire Thursday at a small Seattle university, fatally wounding one person before a student subdued him with pepper spray as he tried to reload, police said.
A student building monitor at Seattle Pacific University disarmed the gunman after he entered Otto Miller Hall, and several other students jumped on top of him and pinned him down until officers arrived, police said.
A 19-year-old man died at Harborview Medical Center. Three other people were hospitalized. A critically injured 20-year-old woman was taken to surgery, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. A 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old man were in satisfactory condition. Gregg said one of those two men was not shot.
None of the victims was immediately identified.
At a news conference Thursday night, Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said the suspect was a white male "approximately 26 years of age" who was not a student at the school. McDonagh said his name would not be released until he's booked into jail for investigation of murder.
The afternoon shooting came a week before the end of the school year, and the situation was particularly tense when police initially reported that they were searching for a second suspect. They later said no one else was involved.
Campus locked down
The university locked down its campus for several hours, and it alerted students and staffers to stay inside. Some students were taking finals in the same building that the shooter entered.
"We're a community that relies on Jesus Christ for strength, and we'll need that at this point in time," said Daniel Martin, university president.
On Thursday evening, people packed the First Free Methodist Church on campus for a service of prayers and song. So many people crowded into the building that dozens of people gathered on a lawn near the church and formed their own groups as the sun set.
About 4,270 undergraduate and graduate students attend the private Christian university. Its 40-acre campus is in a leafy residential neighborhood about 10 minutes from downtown Seattle. The school canceled classes and other activities Friday.
'I'm in utter shock'
Jillian Smith was taking a math test on the second floor of Otto Miller Hall when a lockdown was ordered. She heard police yelling and banging on doors in the hallway.
The professor locked the classroom door, and the 20 or so students sat on the ground, lining up at the front of the classroom.
"We were pretty much freaking out," said Smith, 20, a sophomore. "People were texting family and friends, making sure everyone was OK."
About 45 minutes later, police came and escorted them out of the building two by two, she said. On the way, they passed the lobby, where she saw bullet casings and what appeared to be blood in the lobby carpet and splatter on the wall.
Ashley Springer, 26, was in a classroom with her professor and a few other students when a woman with a bullhorn came into the room and told them to lock the door, pull down the shades and turn out the lights.
Springer, a senior, called Seattle Pacific University "a really close community."
David Downs, a 22-year-old senior who is graduating next week, said he left campus 30 minutes before the shooting.
"I'm in utter shock," said Downs, who is a point guard on the university's men's basketball team. "It's so unbelievable to me that this could happen on our campus. It's the last thing I would have ever thought could happen here."
