A biology professor is in custody in connection with three fatal shootings on the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus Friday afternoon, The Huntsville Times reported.
Dr Amy Bishop, a Harvard-University trained neuroscientist, was taken into custody, and her husband has also been detained, the newspaper reported. Neither have been charged.
Police said three people were killed and three were wounded when the shooter opened fire about 4 p.m. during a biology faculty meeting on the third floor of the Shelby Center for Science and Technology.
The three injured people are being treated at Huntsville Hospital.
A hospital spokesperson confirmed that two men and one woman had been taken there for treatment – with two of those patients in a critical condition.
CBS News affiliate WHNT-TV reported the suspect had been denied tenure at the university and the victims were all faculty members.
Police searched the floors of the Shelby Center before declaring the building secure. The center – named for Republican Sen. Richard Shelby – was opened in 2007 and contains teaching and research labs, classrooms, auditoriums and offices.
A 911 call indicated as many as 10 people may have been shot at the center by a woman in her 30s wearing a pink sweater, The Huntsville Times said.
Erin Johnson, a sophomore and a student aide, told the Times there was a biology faculty meeting underway when she heard screams coming from the room.
The Huntsville campus, approximately 85 miles north of Birmingham, has about 7,500 students in northern Alabama, not far from the Tennessee line.
The university announced late Friday that all classes had been canceled and a command center had been set up with counselors available to speak to students.
Sen. Shelby said he was saddened to hear of the shooting.
“I am deeply saddened to hear of this horrible tragedy,” he said in a statement.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the faculty and staff of the University of Alabama-Huntsville.”
AFP contributed to this report.