Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare said it was treating six patients; one in critical condition and the rest in serious condition. The hospital said details were still unfolding.
Police in the southeastern US state identified the suspect as the 20-year-old son of a local law enforcement officer.
“Two victims are deceased and five individuals have been transported to a local hospital with gunshot wounds,” said Florida State University Chief of Police Jason Trumbower, adding the suspect was also in the hospital.
Police said the shooter used one of his mother’s guns.
Florida State University was the site of a shooting in 2014, when a gunman injured three people in a school library as students studied for final exams. The shooter was shot to death by police.
‘Freaking out’
Anna Griffin, an 18-year-old freshman, said she was in a macroeconomics class with about 20 other students in the Bellamy Building when she heard loud noises, which she believes were gunshots and banging as other classrooms slammed barricades against their doors.
“I was freaking out,” she said. “I was shaking.”
Students in her class immediately closed the windows, locked the door, then barricaded it with their desks, Griffin said. They fortified their defences when they realised they had a heftier barrier: the teacher’s metal desk.
Then, they waited as a voice came over the intercom telling them the school had been locked down because of an active shooter.
About an hour after the gunshots, police burst into the building and escorted students outside, ordering them to walk slowly with their hands raised, she said. Officers stopped them near the student union where Griffin saw about five shell casings marked with white evidence placards.
15-minute wait
Meanwhile, police officers swarmed the area as helicopters flew overhead, she said.
Police had Griffin and the other students wait in front of the student union for about 15 minutes before escorting them to a grassy field just off campus. She said she didn’t see any victims.
Griffin overheard another student talking about how this was her second school shooting, having endured one in high school. It was Griffin’s first, and 90 minutes after the gunshots erupted, she was still rattled.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” she said. “I’m definitely still pretty freaked out.”
An FBI spokesperson said that director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino have been briefed on the situation and agents from the bureau’s Jacksonville field office are on campus helping local law enforcement with their investigation.
President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office that he was briefed on the shooting at Florida State University, where an active shooter was reported.
“It’s a shame. Horrible thing. Horrible that things like this take place. And we’ll have more to say about it later.”
He later defended Americans’ gun rights.
“The gun doesn’t do the shooting, the people he. I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment.”
Florida senator Rick Scott said on X that he was monitoring the situation and “praying for the safety of everyone at FSU and a swift recovery for those injured”.
