"Thousands of students at Michigan State University were ordered to shelter in place after shots were fired in a campus building in the early evening, leaving two dead," AFP reported.

"The gunman fled to the students’ union, where he killed one more person, sparking a major police operation as officers swarmed the 5,000-acre campus," it added.

According to university spokesperson Emily Guerrant, the first shots were fired inside a hall at 8:18 p.m. local time at the north end of campus, and gunshots were later heard at a nearby hall. Nearly 30 firetrucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles swarmed the campus.

For hours, hundreds of officers searched for a suspect wearing a baggy blue jacket and red shoes, as seen on security camera video, said Chris Rozman, deputy chief of the Michigan University Police.

The police located the male suspect off campus, who had died from a self-inflicted gunshot. The university police have lifted the shelter-in-place order, saying there was no longer a threat to the campus.

"Police refused to give details of the victims, including whether they were students or faculty members of the university... They could not confirm whether the suspect had any connection to the university," AFP reported.