Story highlights Victims were two students, a staff member and a contract worker, sheriff says

Suspect fled and was shot to death by campus police

Attacker was a male student at University of California, Merced

(CNN) A male student at University of California, Merced, stabbed four people as classes began Wednesday morning before campus police fatally shot him, a school spokesman said.

Two of those stabbed were transported for treatment via helicopter, the school said on Twitter, while the two others were treated on campus.

"All conscious," the university tweeted about the victims.

The attacker was a California resident who was living on campus, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said. The victims were identified as two students, a staff member and a contract employee at the school.

Authorities have not released a motive and it's not known what relationship, if any, existed between the assailant and the victims, said James Leonard, a school spokesman.

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