Three people are dead and another is in hospital after gunmen opened fire at a university in the US city of Baltimore.

Police said two gunmen emerged from two vans outside the University of Maryland just before 11pm local time (1pm AEST), the Baltimore Sun has reported.

The Baltimore Police Department confirmed two men and two women had been shot, three of whom have since died.

The fourth victim is in a stable condition with a gunshot wound to the back.

The shooting followed another incident on July 2, when shots were fired into a car on the same street and block as today’s gunfire.

One person was injured in that shooting.