One man has died and another three people have been injured after a shooting at the Seattle Pacific University in Washington State in the US.

A suspect is now in custody, and the campus remains in lockdown.

Police in the city said the gunman was disarmed by staff as he was reloading:

Police in the city said the lone gunman, who opened fire with a shotgun and also had a knife, was pepper-sprayed by a student security guard and disarmed as he was reloading in the foyer of Otto Miller Hall.

Several other students held him until police officers arrived.

Police later confirmed the man who died was 19.

Harbourview Medical Centre spokeswoman Susan Gregg said a woman in her 20s is in surgery with critical injuries.

She added that a second man (24) and third man (22) are in a satisfactory condition. One of the two men injured was not shot.

Suspect not a student

Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said the suspect was a white male, approximately 26, who was not a student at the university.

Police had initially reported that they were searching for a second suspect, but later said no one else was involved.

Mr McDonagh added the suspect's name would not be released until he is booked for investigation of murder.

The shooting came a week before the end of the academic year.

Looking to Jesus

University president Daniel Martin said: "We're a community that relies on Jesus Christ for strength, and we'll need that at this point in time."

People packed into the First Free Methodist Church on campus for a service in the aftermath of the shooting.

Dozens who could not get into the packed church gathered on a lawn nearby and formed their own groups as the sun set.

Eyewitness reports

One student told a local television channel, KIRO 7 TV, that he heard a loud bang from a nearby classroom which his teacher initially thought was a science experiment.

The student, identified as Blake, said someone went out and came back and said: "I think someone's been shot."

"I was scared for about a minute," he said, adding he heard shouting and someone running past the door.

Then "cops come in through another classroom which was connected to ours and they escorted us out".

He added: "I just saw piles of blood on the ground, just scattered throughout the lobby.

"And I actually stepped in a puddle ... I saw someone was on the ground. Someone was on top of them, their hands behind their head."

Another student, Jillian Smith, was taking a maths test when a lockdown was ordered.

After being locked in the classroom for around 45 minutes, police officers came to lead them out of the building.

Ms Smith said that on the way out she saw bullet casings and what appeared to be blood on the lobby carpet.

"Seeing blood made it real," she said.

"I didn't think something like this would happen at our school."

Around 4,000 students attend the Christian university, which is about 10 minutes from downtown Seattle.

Friday's classes and other activities have been cancelled.