Two people died in what appeared to be an "isolated" murder-suicide Thursday at the University of South Carolina, police said, after the campus was placed on lockdown. The deaths occurred at the university's school of public health, the Columbia Police Department said on Twitter. No further details were available.
"Appears to be a murder-suicide... Isolated incident at USC school of health," said the tweet. A spokesman for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was not immediately available for comment. The state's emergency warning system had earlier issued an alert after gunshots rang out at the campus in the state capital Columbia. "Shots fired at New School of Public Health. Building is locked down. Seek safe shelter. Remain indoors. Obey officials," Carolina Alert tweeted. About 45 minutes later, the online emergency system reported there was "no longer an existing threat on campus," but it said the school of public health and surrounding streets were closed. The State daily newspaper reported that the building has been evacuated, and that police SWAT teams were at the scene.