Sean Rossman, Karl Etters and John Bacon

USA TODAY

TALLAHASSEE — A lawyer and Florida State University alum was identified by police Thursday as the gunman whose rampage left three people wounded and sent hundreds of panicked students scrambling for exits and ducking for cover.

Officers responding to 911 calls early Thursday fatally shot Myron May, a 2005 FSU grad who had moved back into the area in recent weeks,Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo said.

"He refused to surrender and as a result he was shot and killed by officers," DeLeo said. DeLeo did not say whether May fired at police, a contention cited by a department spokesman earlier in the day.

DeLeo said May had written documents and made videos that discuss "being targeted" by the government. May's Facebook page includes Bible verses and links to conspiracy theories about the government reading people's minds.

"Mr. May was in a state of crisis ... struggling either psychologically or emotionally," DeLeo said.

One victim was hospitalized in critical condition and another in good condition, a spokesperson for Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said. A third person was grazed by a bullet and was treated at the scene and released.

Campus Police Chief David Perry said classes will resume Friday and the library will reopen. He promised a strong police presence. Officials canceled classes Thursday but kept the campus open and made counseling available to students and staff.

"We will get through this as a community, we will get through this as a university," Perry said.

More than 300 students were in Strozier Library when the shooting began at about 12:15 a.m. DeLeo said May, firing a semiautomatic .380 caliber handgun he reloaded at least once, never got past the library lobby.

Jason Derfuss, 21, said he was leaving the library when the shooter opened fire near him. Derfuss posted on Facebook pictures of a bullet and a book, Great Medieval Thinkers: John Wyclif, which the bullet had torn through. Derfuss says in his post he was near the gunman when the shooting started, but never felt the shot and only discovered the damage three hours later.

"He was about 5 feet from me, but he hit my books," Derfuss said. "I assumed I wasn't a target, I assumed I was fine. The truth is I was almost killed tonight and God intervened."

"You never think something like this is going to happen to you until you have to react in that situation when someone is screaming there is a gun in the building. I ran for my life," said Allison Kope, a freshman from Cocoa Beach, Fla. "I ran right out the back door. My laptop and everything is still in there. It was shock. It was just instinct. You don't think about anything else, you just go."

University President John Thrasher described the shootings as an isolated incident, but also said police did "an extraordinary job taking quick and decisive action to prevent further tragedy."

Daniel Morales, a 19-year-old freshman from Fort Pierce, Fla., said that when he first heard someone say, "'Somebody's got a gun.' I thought he was joking." But after realizing a gunman was in the library, Morales and others raced to a back room on the second floor where they barricaded a door with desks.

Three freshmen who were in the DeGraff Hall dormitory at the time said they began getting reports from friends locked down in the library.

"We know there are definitely people who saw the shooter," Anthony Coons said.

His friend Max Martin described the surreal scene.

"You hear all these stories on the news, then it happens," Martin said. "This is something you never want to happen."

Nikolai Hernandez, who was in another dorm room nearby, said he heard "consecutive gunshots" that sounded as if they came from an automatic rifle.

"That was confirmed when I went outside and talked to someone who said they saw police open fire on a shooter who was armed right on the front steps of the library," the freshman said.

The video below was posted on Facebook by Jessica Davis. An individual can be heard over the intercom saying, "There has been a shooting in the library. Stay where you are," and instructing people to call 911 if they have been shot.

Students were allowed to leave the library about 3 a.m. Before that, students were on lockdown at the campus' library and in dorms.

FSU police issued an alert warning its 40,000 students that read: "Dangerous Situation! Main Campus — Tallahassee. Seek shelter immediately, away from doors and windows."

"If there is any positive news we can take from this occurrence, (it) is that the victim count was not higher," Tallahassee Mayor-elect Andrew Gillum said.

Social media immediately lit up with messages of concern and prayer requests.

Sean Rossman and Karl Etters report for the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat. Contributing: Setareh Baig and Daniella Abinum, FSView.