Shots were fired at the Palm Bay campus of Eastern Florida State College on Thursday afternoon, sending one man in his 20s to the hospital in critical condition, Florida Today reported.
The shooting occurred in the campus parking lot, reports say. One man was being attacked by two others at around 1:50 p.m. The man allegedly went to his car and retrieved a gun while his two attackers continued to beat him, Palm Bay Police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez told Florida Today.
The man then open fired while taking blows from the two other men.
"We just heard a gunshot," one witness told WFTV "Well, we heard a loud, 'Pow, pow!' We didn't know. We didn't know exactly what it was. No one was alarmed, [and] then we just saw people running over there."
Witnesses said the gunman wounded one of his attackers.
"I thought it was one of those little firecracker things because it wasn't very loud," another witness told WFTV.
John Glisch, a college spokesman, told Florida Today the wounded man was shot in the chest. His name has not been released.
The wounded man was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Florida, Lee Nessel, a spokeswoman for Brevard County Fire Rescue, told Florida Today.
Martinez said the gunman is also being treated at a hospital for wounds inflicted during the attack. Police also do not yet know what the fight was about or if the men involved attend the college, Martinez told Florida Today.
The college campus, which is shared with the University of Central Florida, was shut down for nearly an hour after the shooting. Classes were canceled for the rest of the day, Florida Today reported.
Police are still investigating the shooting and are questioning the third man involved. The names of the two attackers have not yet been released, WFTV reported.
