Shooting in North Carolina has killed two people and injured at least five at the University of North Carolina’s Charlotte campus.
Video aired on local television and posted to social media showed scenes that have become all too familiar in the United States due to the rise in school gun violence, with students evacuating campus buildings with their hands raised as police officers ran past them toward the scene of the shooting.
The university’s office of emergency management tweeted an alert warning that shots had been reported on campus shortly before 6PM (2200 GMT) on what was students’ last day of classes this academic year.
Shootings in schools and university has become a regular occurrence in the United States, in fact, no other country has as many shootings or killings on schools or universities as the United States.
The countries lax gun laws have been highlighted as the main cause behind the growing gun crime in the country.
Local emergency services said two people had been killed, while another two sustained life-threatening injuries and two more were being treated for less serious wounds.
Police confirmed the shooter, identified as a 22-year-old history student at the campus, was in custody.
Video footage posted on social media showed anxious students filing away from the school with their hands raised.
It was not immediately clear which part of the school the shooter targeted.
“It was a really scary experience to hear the shots and have to run… I didn’t think I would have to experience something like that,” one student told NBC News.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said she was “in shock” after hearing of the rampage.
“My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others,” she wrote on Twitter.
Local television news footage showed police officers escorting a tall, lanky young man with shaggy brown hair from a patrol car. As he was taken into a station house, the man looked over his shoulder with a smile and appeared to yell something at reporters.
Several local media outlets reported the gunman either was or had been a student on the campus.
“Our officers’ actions definitely saved lives. There’s no doubt about that,” Baker said.
The gun violence, coinciding with the last day of classes for the academic year, prompted a security lockdown of the entire campus as police swept the university one building at a time, evacuating students as they progressed.
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