Gunman Opens Fire at University in Cleveland; at Least One Killed

CLEVELAND – A man wearing camouflage and carrying a high-powered rifle opened fire inside a university business school Friday. Hospital officials said at least one person was killed and another wounded.

The standoff ended seven hours later, with police taking a suspect in custody.

"We believe he is the shooter or one of the shooters," said Police Chief Edward Lohn (search). He would not elaborate.

Lohn said about 70 people had been in the Peter B. Lewis Building (search) and that most had been rescued. He would not discuss injuries, saying family members had not been notified.

Police sealed off the sprawling building at Case Western Reserve University (search) after the shooting began at about 4 p.m. The gunman was believed to be inside at the time, along with an unknown number of terrified students and faculty who had locked themselves in rooms.

"We're all shaking and quite scared. One of the girls in our office is seven months pregnant -- we're trying to keep her as calm as possible," Tracy Warner, 30, told The Associated Press from a third-floor office where she hid with several other people.

University Hospital spokeswoman Janice Guhl said a male brought to the hospital died. She wouldn't release specifics of his injuries. She said no others from the business school were taken to University Hospital.

Police begged the gunman to call them, but by early evening, two dozen SWAT team officers wearing helmets and bulletproof vests had moved inside.

Shots were heard intermittently until at least 5:30 p.m. About four hours after the shooting began, rescuers began taking people out of the building. They were being reunited with family members waiting at a nearby campus auditorium.

Denise Smith, a spokeswoman at Huron Hospital, said a male was in good condition after suffering a gunshot wound in the buttocks.

In addition to the two people shot, an unknown number of people were taken out of the building and placed on stretchers. Further details were not available and it was not clear if any had been shot.

A student who escaped, Sachin Goel, 26, was standing near the cafeteria with two friends when the gunman approached and opened fire. One of his friends screamed as he was hit, and the others dove for cover under a table.

"He couldn't get us. And then he again shot as we turned the table and put it in front of us," Goel said. "He was indiscriminately firing at everyone and a sane person would not be doing that."

Police said the man was believed to be wielding a high-powered rifle.

"He was just walking, aiming his guns and firing," said LeKisha Spencer, 28, who works in the first-floor cafeteria. She said he was carrying a "machine gun" and book bag, and was wearing a camouflage shirt and military-style green hat.

Albert DiFranco, 26, an assistant alumni director, said he was returning to his first-floor office when he saw drops of blood and broken glass on the floor outside his door. People shouted down from a second-floor mezzanine to get out.

"I ran out," he said. "People were saying, 'Go go go!"'

Administrative assistant Bonnie Copes, 50, was locked in a department office inside the building. She said she heard repeated gunshots.

"Rounds and rounds and rounds," she said.

Case Western has 9,500 students. The $62 million Lewis building, designed by Frank Gehry, opened last fall and is about five stories high. Instead of walls on the south side, it has a curving roof, made of 20,000 stainless-steel shingles, that seemingly tumbles to the ground.