Two people are reportedly dead after a murder-suicide occurred at the University of South Carolina on Thursday afternoon, according to multiple reports.
The shooting, which prompted a campus-wide lockdown and large police response, occurred at around 1:20 p.m. inside the New School of Public Health Research Building on the Columbia campus, The State newspaper reported, citing a law enforcement official close to the situation. Identities of the shooter and victim were not immediately clear.
An hour after the initial shooting report, authorities said "there is no longer an existing threat on campus. New School of Public Health and streets remained closed."
On Thursday afternoon, gunshots were fired at the Arnold School of Public Health on Assembly St., according to an alert posted to the college's website.
"Building is locked down. Seek safe shelter. Remain indoors. Obey officials," read the original alert, blasted out by campus officials at 1:16 p.m.
Hayden Dunn, a senior from Myrtle Beach, said he was in the building about 1 p.m., getting in an elevator to change classes, when a police officer also got inside. Dunn said the officer asked whether anyone had heard gunshots, but they hadn't.
Dunn said he went to class, then an alarm sounded five minutes later, and people rushed outside. Another officer told him shots had been fired, according to New York Daily News.
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have known anything happened," Dunn said.
Immediately upon lockdown, a floor-to-floor search was carried out in the building by police officials, who eventually determined that the threat on campus was over.
In a second message posted at 2:15 p.m., the school said there was "no longer an existing threat," but asked students to stay away from the area where the gunfire was reported.
Following the incident, ambulances were seen leaving the scene, law enforcement officials told WLTX. Some roads were blocked in the immediate area, but students still walked around campus, along with some vehicles that drove where they could.
The shooting occurred a couple of blocks from the Statehouse in downtown Columbia, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, a Columbia police spokeswoman referred questions to the school while calls to the campus police department and college representatives seeking additional information were not immediately returned.
This is a breaking news matter. Updates will be provided as they become available.
