One person was killed and three others were injured Thursday in a shooting on the campus of Seattle Pacific University that ended after a student disarmed the gunman.
A student building monitor at Seattle Pacific University subdued the gunman as he reloaded after he entered the foyer at Otto Miller Hall, and several other people jumped on top of him and pinned him down until police officers arrived, police said.
Seattle police said at an afternoon press conference that the shooter entered a campus building with a shotgun and shot three students before he was pepper-sprayed by the monitor.
Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said a 19-year-old man died, and a 20-year-old woman was in surgery with critical injuries. Gregg had no additional information on the man who died, and said two other victims, a 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old man, were in satisfactory condition.
None of the victims was immediately identified. It was not clear how the person who was not shot was injured.
Earlier, police said a second gunman was being sought, but later revised their report, saying no other suspects were at large.
At a news conference Thursday night, Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said the suspect in custody was a white male who was not a student at the school. The suspect was later identified as Aaron R. Ybarra, 26, who was booked into the King County Jail late Thursday for investigation of murder, police said.
"There are a number of heroes in this," McDonagh said. "The people around him (the gunman) stepped up."
Multiple shots were fired, and the gunman had additional rounds, McDonagh said.
"But for the great response by the people of Seattle Pacific, this incident might have been much more tragic," he said.
"We're a community that relies on Jesus Christ for strength, and we'll need that at this point in time," said Daniel Martin, president of Seattle Pacific University.
The shooting, which occurred around 3:30 p.m., took place at Otto Miller Hall, an academic building, Q13Fox.com reported. The university issued a lockdown after the shooting, but lifted it shortly before 4:30 p.m.
Some students were taking finals in the same building as the shooter.
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."
Smith said they sat in the classroom for about 45 minutes before police came and escorted them out of the building. 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.
"Seeing blood made it real," Smith said. "I didn't think something like this would happen at our school."
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 had just left campus 30 minutes before the shooting.
"I'm in utter shock," said Downs, who is a point guard on the university'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."
"It puts things in perspective," he said. "Anything can happen, even on a small Christian campus."
Seattle Pacific University, a private Christian university, has about 4,000 students. The university sits on a 40-acre campus located in a residential neighborhood on the north slope of Queen Anne Hill, about 10 minutes from Seattle's downtown.
The incident follows a spate of recent shootings on or near college campuses.
Last month, according to police, Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured seven before turning his gun on himself in a rampage in Isla Vista, California, near two universities.
Seven people were killed and three injured when a 43-year-old former student opened fire at a tiny Christian school, Oikos University, in Oakland, California, in 2012. A gunman killed five people and injured 18 when he opened fire in a Northern Illinois University lecture hall in 2008.
In 2007, 32 people were fatally shot in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia before the gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, killed himself.
One killed, 3 injured in Seattle Pacific University shooting | Fox News
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Seattle Campus Shooting....45 Min. Cops show up...Pepper spray stops him....
