Seattle Pacific University shooting: Student disarms killer gunman

Police have praised the bravery of a Seattle Pacific University student for disarming a gunman who had killed one person and wounded three others.

The student overcame the gunman on the campus of Seattle Pacific University as he tried to reload, police said. Pepper spray was used to subdue the attacker.

Police said the actions of the student, and others who came to his aid, prevented a more serious tragedy.

The gun suspect has been named as Aaron Ybarra, 26, who is in custody.

Police say he is being investigated for murder. They say he was not a student at the university and was believed to have been acting alone.

He is reported to have been carrying a shotgun and a knife before opening fire after walking into the foyer of the university.

“But for the great response at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) this incident might have been much more tragic,” Seattle police spokesman Paul McDonagh told a news conference.

SPU President Daniel Martin told the Seattle Times that the students who overpowered the gunman “acted without regard to their own safety on behalf of others”.

“We are a community and we care for others,” Daniel Martin was quoted as saying.

“Those that were involved did just that.”

He said that students and university personnel have procedures in place for when a shooting occurs, which was one reason why the gunman was subdued so quickly.

Hospital officials in the Washington state city said the person killed was a man in his 20s. A woman is also in a very serious condition with a gunshot wound to her upper body.

The other two injuries were sustained by men in their 20s. One is in a stable condition and the other has minor wounds to the abdomen.

In a statement, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray referred to previous fatal shootings in the city and added: “Once again the epidemic of gun violence has come to Seattle, the epidemic of gun violence that is haunting this nation.”

SPU is a privately run Christian university which has about 4,270 undergraduate and graduate students inside a 40-acre campus about 10 minutes from central Seattle.

The US has recently suffered a spate of shootings in or near colleges.

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