Three dead, including gunman, in Texas university shooting: Police

A gunman and a law enforcement officer were among three people killed Monday in a shooting near a Texas university campus, police said.

A male civilian also was killed, while two other officers and a woman were injured in the shooting near Texas A&M University at College Station, said Bryan Police Department spokesman Jon Agnew. Bryan police are assisting nearby College Station in the investigation. Assistant College Station Police Chief Scott McCollum earlier identified the law enforcement officer killed as Brazos County Constable Brian Bachmann.

Agnew said officers had established a perimeter around the area shortly after the shooting just east of campus, but they do not believe a second suspect was involved. He said police don’t know if the shooter was a student at Texas A&M.

The school had issued an alert on its website just before 12:30 p.m. warning of an active shooter near the campus football stadium, Kyle Field.

The gunman fired shots from inside a home about two blocks from the campus, according to the university’s alert. “We have been told to stay put,” said Keith Randall, a Texas A&M employee who was in his office. “They just asked us to stay where we are.” The alert warned residents and students to avoid the area, and was later updated with the shooter taken into custody.

Texas A&M spokeswoman Sherylon Carroll could not confirm details about the shooting, but said most students were not on campus Monday. The fall semester does not begin until Aug. 27. “It appeared to be fairly quiet,” Carroll said of campus. “It didn’t appear to be a lot of people out and about at that particular time.”

College Station is about 145 kilometres northwest of Houston. Texas A&M is home to more than 50,000 students, according to its website.

With files from Star wire services