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Seattle Pacific University Shooting Leaves 1 Dead

by L. Turner

Another American campus was in lockdown on Thursday afternoon. A shooting at Seattle Pacific University left one dead and three others injured, and the shooter was in custody following the attack, according to CNN. A man entered the foyer at the school's Otto Miller Hall, a science and engineering building, at about 3:30 p.m. when he began firing a shotgun at four victims.

One of the victims, a man, died after being transported to the hospital on Thursday, and a female victim was in surgery and in critical condition. Two other victims were in stable condition, according to police. At a news conference, SPD Captain Chris Fowler said the gunman entered the building's foyer and started shooting when he had to reload. That's when a student monitor jumped on the gunman and sprayed him with pepper spray before he had a chance to continue shooting.

The shooter began to reload his shotgun and a student that is the building monitor inside the hall confronted the shooter, was able to subdue the individual. ...(The monitor and other students) were able to pin the shooter to the ground until the police arrived.

The shooting took place in the wake of shock over a campus shooting at UC-Santa Barbara at the end of last month, and in a news conference, Seattle's mayor Ed Murray quickly connected the incident to acts of mass gun violence endemic to the U.S.

Today should have been a day of celebration at the end of the school year at Seattle Pacific University. Instead it’s a day of tragedy and loss. Once again the epidemic of gun violence has come to Seattle — the epidemic of gun violence that is haunting this nation. ... This is a tragic moment for Seattle and a tragic moment for America. Once again, our prayers and our thoughts are with the families and with the victims.

One student, Jordan Heff, was in a physics class when he heard what he thought was a loud experiment, he told The Seattle Times.

I was in physics and people heard a loud bang – we thought it was a science experiment. We heard crying and yelling outside our door. We walked out and there were blood stains all over the carpet.

SPU issued a lockdown urging students to stay where they were, get low to the floor, lock the doors to the rooms they were in, close any window blinds and stay there until they were told it was safe to leave. Originally two suspects were reported to be in custody, but the Seattle Police Department clarified on Thursday that just one person was arrested. Police weren't searching for any other suspects.

The Seattle Police Department's SWAT team was still clearing buildings early Thursday night as victims were transported to an area hospital.

SPU, according to The Seattle Times, does have lockdown drills to prepare for so-called "active shooter" situations. During Thursday's lockdown the school had to specify that the message was “NOT A DRILL," the paper reported.