KOCHVILLE TOWNSHIP, MI -- A shooting that wounded at least five people near the campus of Saginaw Valley State University has left the students reeling less than two weeks after the school year began.

Five, possibly six, people were injured in the shooting at Campus Village, 2207 Pierce, at about 1:50 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, according to Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel.

The apartment complex is located across the road from the Saginaw Valley State University campus in Kochville Township.

Hours after the shooting, handfuls of apartment residents and their guests wandered onto their patios to survey the shooting scene.

Scott Brown, an SVSU sophomore from Owosso who is studying criminal justice, said he witnessed the shooter, who was standing near a table where a DJ had set up near the center of the grassy courtyard between apartments.

"Everybody was just having a good time," Brown said. "Everybody was just dancing and stuff like that. And then stuff got real. A guy pulled out a gun and, like, shot a couple times up in the air. And everybody just scattered. Everybody ran."

Trenton Wellsted, a Mott Community College student visiting friends at SVSU, said he watched one of his friends help one of the shooting victims into the apartment he was staying in.

"One of my buddies had this guy around his arm and pulled him inside," Wellsted said. "He had been shot in his left foot and his shoulder. He didn't even know he got shot in the shoulder. He was hopping on one foot. He came into our apartment. Like, I was staring right at him. He had bullet wounds."

Listen to some of the accounts from students who witnessed the shooting firsthand:

The ground around Brown and Wellsted was still covered with smashed and discarded beer cans, bottles and other trash from the evening's festivities. Students said up to 1,000 people were in attendance at the party.

One student pointed to a red stain in the grass saying, "That's some of the blood right there."

Federspiel said five shooting victims -- none of whom were students at the nearby university -- were treated for their injuries at local hospitals.

A suspect has been described by police as a black male in his early 20s with dreadlocks with blonde or orange tips at the end.

Anyone with information can call the sheriff's office at 989-790-5450, Saginaw County Central Dispatch at 989-797-4580 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-422-JAIL.

Though no SVSU students were injured and the incident happened off-campus, University spokesman J.J. Boehm released a brief statement on behalf of the school.

"While this incident happened off campus and we are thankful that no SVSU students were injured, we are actively working to support our students and parents, as well as faculty and staff," he said. "University Police continues to be working closely with the Saginaw County Sheriff's Department, which is leading the investigation."

Wellsted said he was inside when the shooting started and thought the sounds were coming from local police trying to break up the party.

"Then all I see is people with just fear on their face," he said. "People are on the ground, ducking. People are just running to every door possible here. The first thought on my mind was, 'There's no way this just happened. There's gunshots in our backyard.'"

Brown said he watched police officers investigating the crime scene and labeling the location of shell casings found in the grass from his second-floor apartment window. He called the experience a "very scary reality check" of some of the violence that exists in the world.

"It's literally my backyard," Brown said.

Both Brown and Wellsted said they believe the university does all it can do to prevent things like Sunday's shooting from happening.

Brown described the party as "open invite," and said once it spread to social media, there was no stopping who might decide to show up there.

"There's really nothing we can do, nothing the police can do to prevent it," he said. "It just happened."

Wellsted said he feels fortunate that neither he nor any of his friends were in the path of any of the bullets.

"That could have been me," he said. "That could have been someone I know. I just feel real lucky right now. I'm just hoping everyone's all right."

The university has set up an information hotline for concerned parents or students.

Anyone concerned about the incident can call 989-964-4348, according to university staff.

As of 11 a.m. Sunday, Boehm said, the hotline had already handled more than 100 phone calls from concerned parents and others seeking information about the incident.

After sending out multiple text alerts about the incident through its emergency notification system, the university sent out a message at 9:46 a.m. Sunday saying, "SVSU has resumed normal operations."

That includes the "9-11 Heroes Run" scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Sunday, a 5K with a stated goal of helping the community "never forget the sacrifices of the heroes of September 11th and in the wars since."

Despite Sunday's shooting, Boehm praised SVSU's past safety record and pledged that the university will continue strive to be safe place for all.

"We recognize no college campus is a sanctuary, SVSU included -- but thanks to a shared commitment to the well-being of others demonstrated by our students, faculty, staff and alumni -- we are proud of our fine record of campus safety over many years," he said. "We will remain vigilant in maintaining that level of safety."