FSU Gunman Identified, 3 Students Hurt
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/AP) — Investigators are getting a deeper look into the life of the man who shot three Florida State University students early Thursday morning.
A law enforcement officials said Myron May, a lawyer who graduated from FSU before attending Texas Tech University's law school was the shooter.
Police are now pouring over journals they found, looking for a possible motive.
"Mr. May had a written journal and videos where he expressed fears of being targeted and he wanted to bring attention to this issue of targeting," said Tallahassee Police Chief Michael Deleo.
READ: Journal Indicates FSU Gunman Was Suspicious Of Government
Abigail Taunton, who runs a foster home in the panhandle, said that May had recently been staying at a guest house she owns.
"He's just a boy our kids grew up with that we let stay in one of our guest houses for a while," she said. "He's moving back home from Texas and we were trying to help him get on his feet.
Records show May was licensed to practice law in Texas and New Mexico. May recently resigned from the District Attorney's Office in Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. Taunton said he was planning to take the Florida bar exam in February.
May was fatally shot early Thursday after he shot three people at the Strozier Library on campus. Two remain hospitalized.
CLICK HERE To Watch Ted Scouten's Report
Police said May walked toward the library around 12:30 a.m. carrying a loaded 380 semi-automatic, with more bullets in his pockets. When he got near the front door, police said he shot two students then fired again inside.
The sounds sent hundreds of students, up all night studying for exams, scrambling for cover in the book aisles and barricading themselves in with desks.
Three students were wounded before police killed the gunman in a shootout, authorities said.
Up to 400 students were in the building when the shooting happened.
As a campus alert went out, officers tried calming people hiding in book aisles over a loudspeaker.
Police and FSU officials called the shooting an "isolated incident," but have not released many details, including how far May made it into Strozier Library. FSU's compact campus is located less than a mile from downtown Tallahassee and the state Capitol.
Authorities did find a journal and some videos that indicate May believed he was targeted by the government.
Students inside the multistory library heard about half a dozen gunshots. Students began screaming that someone was shooting at them and flipped over chairs in their race to take cover.
"I ran for my life," said Allison Kope, a freshman from Cocoa Beach, who was on the library's first floor. "I ran right out the backdoor. 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."
Other students hid in the book aisles and some barricaded themselves in rooms.
Sara Evans, a senior from Miami, said she was inside the library and heard a male student saying he had been shot. When she looked at him, he was on the ground with blood spreading on his pants leg.
"It wasn't until a victim lying on the ground yelled out, 'There's a gun in the libaray! I've been shot,' that I realized there was a victim bleeding," said Evans.
Jason Derfuss was outside when the first shot was fired.
"I saw one shape approach another and the muzzle flashed, went off and it was very bright and very loud," said Derfuss.
What he didn't realize until he got home was that he was shot at. The bullet was lodged in a book in his back pack.
"It was difficult to wrap my mind around that I was the first person he shot," said Derfuss.
Two of the victims were taken to a local hospital. FSU officials said a third student was only grazed by a bullet and was treated at the scene and released.
READ: Kendall Father Speaks With Daughter During FSU Shooting
Tallahassee and Florida State University police confronted the gunman just outside the library that sits in the middle of the campus and ordered him to drop his handgun, but he fired a shot at them and they unleashed a volley of shots, Tallahassee Police spokesman Dave Northway said.
Hours after the shooting, detectives could be seen inspecting the body of May, who was lying face down at the top of an access ramp just outside the library. A baseball cap lay nearby.
The shooting prompted a campus alert that urged students to take shelter and stay away from doors and windows. After the shooting, FSU officials announced classes would be canceled for Thursday.
Daniel Morales, a 19-year-old freshman from Fort Pierce who was in the library during the attack, said that when he first heard someone say "somebody's got a gun. I thought he was joking." But after realizing there was a gunman in the library, Morales and others raced to a back room on the second floor where they barricaded a door with desks.
Freshman Nikolai Hernandez said he was in his dorm room across from the library when he heard five or six rapid gunshots.
"It was a consecutive bop, bop, bop, bop, bop," Hernandez said. "It makes me definitely a little bit nervous. I was supposed to be in the library. I had a paper to do and I got a little bit lazy and decided not to do it."
A total of five Tallahassee and FSU police officers have been placed on administrative leave as is standard procedure for officer involved shootings.
Thursday morning, FSU students gathered for an impromptu prayer circle around Landis Green.
Thousands of students gathered for a vigil at 5:00 p.m. on campus.
CLICK HERE To View The FSU Prayer Circle Photo Gallery
WebExtra: FSU Shooting News Conference
School officials said the library will re-open Friday at 9:00 a.m.
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