Three wounded in Florida State university library shooting - gunman killed

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Florida State University students stand outside Thursday morning at Strozier Library, which was roped off with police tape.

Three people were wounded, one critically, when a gunman opened fire at a Florida university library and was shot dead by police early on Thursday, officials said.

Officers confronted the attacker outside Florida State University's Strozier Library soon after midnight, ordered him to drop his weapon, then shot him when he fired on them, Tallahassee police said.

Three people were wounded, police spokesman David Northway told reporters, without giving further details. Officials at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare hospital said medics were treating two victims for gunshot wounds.

One of them was in critical condition, and the other was stable, a spokeswoman added.

Graduate student Alexandra Lauren told CNN that she was in the library at the time of the shooting.

"We heard the gunshots, and then it was in a matter of seconds the entire first floor just seemed to go into chaos," Lauren said, her voice wavering.

"It was very scary. I'm just more heartbroken than anything else. FSU means a lot to me," she added.

It was the latest in a series of shootings in schools and colleges that have prompted regular debates about gun control in the United States.

In September, a student at Indiana State University was arrested after shooting another student inside a residence hall. In June, a gunman armed with a shotgun opened fire at a small Christian college in Seattle, killing on person and wounding two others.

A 15-year-old gunman killed four other students in the cafeteria of a Seattle-area high school before turning the gun in himself last month.