New deadly shooting at US university
October 9, 2015
At least one person was killed and three more wounded in a shooting at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, campus authorities said Friday.
"This is not going to be a normal day at NAU," school president Rita Cheng said. "Our hearts are heavy."
Police identified the suspect as 18-year-old Steven Jones, believed to be a freshman in Flagstaff school.
The incident began as a fight between two groups of students in front of a dorm, police said.
Student Maria Gonzalez told the AP news agency that she heard the gunshots early on Friday, but believed them to be firecrackers.
"I was studying for an exam so I looked out the window and see two people running, and that's when I realized they weren't fireworks they were actually gunshots," she said.
The Flagstaff campus, some 230 kilometers (155 miles) north of Phoenix, has more than 25,000 undergraduates.
This is only the latest public gun-related incident in the US, coming during a fierce debate about gun safety in American society.
Last week, a student killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, before turning his firearm on himself.
US President Obama was scheduled to visit the families of the Oregon shooting victims later on Friday.
dj/sms (AP, AFP, dpa)