The man accused of the Seattle university shooting has told police he wanted to kill as many people as possible before taking his own life.

A lone gunman armed with a shotgun and a knife opened fire in a Seattle university building, killing one person before a student subdued him with pepper spray as he tried to reload.

The father of one of the victims of British-born gunman Elliot Rodger has pleaded with politicians to take action on gun control as the dead were honoured at a memorial service.

With a California town grieving the deaths of six college students killed by a mentally ill man, one victim’s father blamed the killings on politicians who failed to tighten gun laws after a mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.