A gunman opened fire in the Florida State University library, on Thursday morning. Three students got hurt during the shooting, while hundreds of other students hid behind bookshelves until police officers arrived at the scene. A man announced the fact that there was a gunman in the building, over a loudspeaker: “There has been a shooting in the library, stay where you are. We will be coming to each floor and clearing it, and taking care of anybody”.
One of the injured students is in critical condition. The second shooting victim is at the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and he is in stable condition. The third victim was only grazed by the bullet and we was treated and released on the spot. Police officers responded within 5 minutes after the first fire shot was heard, according to Andrew Gillum. The shooter was spotted outside Strozier Library. The police officers asked him to drop his weapon, however the shooter did not comply. He tried shooting towards one of the officers and was shot dead. Because of the incident, the school ceased any classes or exams which were supposed to take place today. Counseling services were provided to students, teachers or family members who were present at the shooting site.
The investigators are still trying to determine what happened at the scene and they are interviewing people who were present during the shooting. It is not yet know what triggered the gunman to open fire. Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo declared: “Obviously everyone wants to know why. That’s the hard answer we’re going to continue to investigate”. Michael DeLeo clarified the fact that the shooting was an isolated incident and that the gunman had acted alone. He said: “There is no indication of any threats to the university, the students or our community at this time”. The shooting was considered to have been bad, however people believe it could have had worse consequences, if the police hadn’t arrived on time. Gillum declared: “If there is any positive that we can take from this occurrence, it’s that the victim count was not greater. Today, we are all FSU”. Mary Coburn, the university’s vice president said that the university decided to cancel all its activities, because of today’s shooting: “It became evident that there was a lot of impact on the students, and that seemed the wise thing to do”.