5 killed, 4 injured in US university shooting

Washington, April 17 (IANS) Multiple victims were reported in a shooting at the Florida State University (FSU) in Florida state on Thursday.

WFTV9, an Orlando-based news station, reported that five people were killed and four injured, the fatalities citing unidentified law enforcement sources, who also put the number of alleged shooters at two, one of whom is dead and the other is in custody.

These numbers had not been announced by authorities yet.

"An active shooter has been reported in the area of the Student Union," the university's alert system said in an alert.

US President Donald Trump, who is a resident of Florida but was in the White House at the time, said he had been briefed and called the shooting a "shame".

"Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding," Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis wrote in a post on X.

The Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) had also responded to the incident.

"My team and I have been briefed on the tragic shooting at Florida State and our FBI Jacksonville team is on the ground assisting. We will provide full support to local law enforcement as needed," FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in a post on X.

"Please keep the FSU community in your prayers."

"I did see them carry out one student in what looked like on a stretcher and kept them in the road until an ambulance was able to pick them up," Daniella Streety, a student told NBC news.

"Directly across from me there's a building about 50 feet outside of the window... There was a student injured there as well and they had to transport them in a desk chair to the road to then be transported via ambulance."

The US has had many incidents of shooting at schools and colleges and the worst of them took place in a Florida high school in 2018 leaving 17 students and members of the staff dead.