WASHINGTON:

Gunfire at an apartment killed two people and wounded another at a historically black university in the southern United States on Thursday, officials said, prompting a lockdown of the campus.

The shooting at South Carolina State University’s Hugine Suites student residential complex was reported Thursday evening, the college said in a statement.

The university, with an enrollment of around 3000 students, has had two shootings on its campus since last  October, including one at the same student housing complex, which killed one person and wounded another, ABC News reported.

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“University officials have not yet confirmed the victims’ identities or the condition of the wounded person,” the university said in a social media post on Friday. “The campus remains on lockdown.”

School officials did not say whether anyone was in custody in connection with the shooting, but they did announce that Friday classes were cancelled.

They said local law enforcement agencies were assisting the university “in patrolling on and around the campus.”

Thursday’s violence came just days after an 18-year-old shooter killed eight people at a secondary school and a residence in British Columbia, Canada.

The United States, where firearms are readily available, has a long history of gun violence that kills thousands of people every year.