A student in Seattle has been hailed a hero after ambushing a gunman, who had already killed one person and wounded another three, as he was reloading his shotgun.
Student Jon Meis has been praised for his bravery after he confronted the attacker, who was in the midst of a killing spree at Seattle University Pacific campus.
Police said the actions of Meis who disarmed the gunman using pepper spray, prevented a far more serious tragedy.
The suspect has been identified as Aaron Ybarra, who seemingly has no connection to the university, and opened fire on Thursday afternoon. Ybarra was carrying extra shotgun shells and a knife, the Associated Press reported.
Meis, who was working as a building monitor, pepper sprayed the shooter as he stopped to reload his gun, then put him in a headlock and tackled him to the ground.
University student Kharis Lund said the experience was "super terrifying". "There were a lot of people crying and calling their parents," he told the Seattle Times.
One physics student told a reporter from the paper he walked through "pools of blood" when police evacuated his building.
Officials at the local hospital told KIRO-TV that a 20-year-old woman with life-threatening injuries was undergoing surgery.
Police sources told the local television network the Ybarra was "obsessed" with the Columbine High School shootings, and had travelled to the site in Colorado where two students killed 15 fellow students in 1999.