Gunman shot dead, three others injured in Florida university library

A suspected gunman was killed by police after a shooting at a US university that wounded three people today.

The shooting happened at a library on the Florida State University campus and officers opened fire after the suspect fired at them.

Students were warned to stay indoors during the incident but the lockdown was later lifted and the school said the area was secure.

Strozier Library, a multi-storey building at the centre of the Tallahassee campus, was roped off with police tape.

John Ehab, a student from Tampa, said he was on the library’s third floor when he heard multiple gunshots.

“Everyone heard them,” he said.

People took cover in the book aisles to hide from the gunman in case he came on to the floor.

Student Nikolai Hernandez said he was in his bedroom across from the library when he heard five or six rapid gunshots.

“It was a consecutive bop, bop, bop, bop, bop,” Mr Hernandez said. “It makes me definitely a little bit nervous. I was supposed to be in the library. I had a paper to do and I got a little bit lazy and decided not to do it.”

He said he had friends still locked inside the library two hours after the shooting.

A campus telephone alert urged people to take shelter in a nearby building and stay away from doors and windows.