WASHINGTON: A gunman who killed at least three people and wounded five on a US university campus shot himself dead on Monday after a massive police manhunt.

Thousands of students at Michigan State University were ordered to shelter in place after shots were fired in a campus building in the early evening, leaving two dead.

The gunman fled to the students’ union, where he killed one more person, sparking a major police operation as officers swarmed the 5,000-acre campus.Police confirmed just after midnight the suspected MSU gunman had shot himself dead a short distance from the university.

“We are sad to report that there have been three confirmed fatalities,” Deputy Chief Chris Rozman of the university’s police force told reporters.

Rozman said hundreds of officers from several agencies had been involved in the operation to try to find the gunman, releasing a photograph of a Black man in a baggy blue jacket, and wearing red shoes. “The suspect in this incident was located outside of the MSU campus,” he said. The “suspect has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound”.

“This truly has been a nightmare that we are living tonight. We are relieved to no longer have an active threat on campus,” Rozman said.

Police later said the man had no connection to the university and no motive for the shooting was immediately apparent.

“We have no idea why he came to the campus to do this tonight,” Rozman said.

Police refused to give details of the victims, including whether they were students or faculty members of the university, one of the top institutions in the United States.

MSU officials said all campus activities would be cancelled for the next 48 hours.

The gunman, identified as Anthony Dwayne McRae of Lansing, Michigan, Jim Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit office, said at a briefing.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2023