State police investigating murder-suicide at University of South Carolina

The university was placed on lockdown as shots were fired

(Rachel Bennett/Twitter)

South Carolina state police have confirmed that two people are dead in a Thursday shooting on the University of South Carolina campus and are investigating it as a murder-suicide, according to news reports.

The shooting happened early Thursday afternoon at the school’s new Public Health Research Centre in the South Carolina state capital of Columbia, according to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division.

Names of the shooter or victim have not been released and the investigation is on-going. The campus has been given the all-clear, though police have advised professors to keep students in the classrooms, according to the Charlotte Observer.

One student on campus posted photos on Twitter of her classroom during the lockdown.

The university shooting comes one day after two teenagers were shot at a Maryland high school during a basketball game. Those injuries were not believed to be life-threating.

The US is no stranger to school shootings and several high-profile shootings have heated up debate in the country about gun control.

Follow Payton Guion on Twitter @PaytonGuion.