The lone suspect entered an academic building of Seattle Pacific University in late afternoon and shot four people, then was disarmed as he paused to reload his gun and was pepper-sprayed by a student security guard, police said.
"Other students jumped on top of them, and they were able to pin the shooter to the ground until police arrived" minutes later, police Captain Chris Fowler told reporters on the scene.
One eyewitness, Chris Howard, a 22-year-old junior at the university, told Reuters he was in a classroom when one of the male victims rushed in, bleeding from the neck and told students to lock the doors.
Stepping outside the classroom moments later, Howard recounted, he saw the gunman lying on the floor with the student security monitor on top of him, surrounded by bullet shells, and saw a second victim with a tourniquet tied around a bleeding arm, being assisted by another student.