Three people are now dead after a campus shooter opened fire on Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss. Monday morning.
History professor Ethan Schmidt, died from multiple gunshot wounds after Shannon Lamb, a geography and social science instructor at the university shot him as he sat at his desk according to Cleveland police. Lamb took his own life later that night.
According to Delta State police Chief Lynn Buford, Lamb was fleeing from police in his car when he stopped got out and ran into the nearby woods where police later found him with a self-inflicted bullet wound. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
It is believed there was a possible love triangle between Schmidt, Lamb and Amy Prentiss. Prentiss was found murdered in her Gautier, Miss. home. Police believed Lamb also may have killed her. However, authorities have declined to identify any motives for the crime.
Delta State received reports of an active shooter on campus around 10:18 a.m. Monday morning. The university and all schools in the area immediately went on lockdown and classes were cancelled. The lockdown was later lifted that afternoon once Lamb was captured.
Tuesdays classes at the university were also cancelled, and a candlelight vigil was scheduled.
The effects of the shooting are felt in Tallahassee, Fla. where many college students call Mississippi home.
Torian Brown, a second-year health and recreation student at Florida A&M University (FAMU), who grew up in Columbus, Miss. heard about the incident from friends who attend East Mississippi Community College. They informed him of "the statewide manhunt" and that their professors were “warning everyone about the incident.”
FAMU political science graduate student Kenya Parker from Tallahassee, Fla., was shocked by the news Monday morning and took to social media to express her concerns as many students did.
“Everyone I went to Alcorn with is talking about it,” said Parker who graduated from Alcorn State University in Mississippi which is two hours from Delta State.
William LaForge, university president at Delta State, expressed the university is recovering from the incident and hopes to get back to its normal environment soon.
“We’re relieved that this tragedy is over,” said LaForge.