A man killed two people, including a law enforcement officer near Texas A&M University Monday before he was fatally shot by the police after a gun battle that proceeded for half an hour.
The law enforcement officer was reportedly serving the suspect an eviction notice at home when the shooting took place. According to officials, four more are injured.
The dead officer was identified as Brazos County Constable Brian Bachmann, said Scott McCollum, assistant chief of the police department in College Station, reports Reuters.
McCollum said Bachmann, 41, was shot in front of the house, about two blocks from the Texas A&M campus, and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police identified the gunman as Thomas Caffall, 35, and the bystander killed as Chris Northcliff, 43, of College Station.
Confirmation is yet to be received on the nature of the eviction notice, whether the suspect was renting the house or was being evicted for non-payment of a mortgage.
Officials said the wounded included a 55-year-old woman, who underwent surgery, and College Station police officer Justin Oehlke, who was in stable condition after being shot in the leg.
Officers Brad Smith and Phil Dorsett were injured by gun shrapnel. Smith was treated at a hospital and released and Dorsett was treated at the scene.
A Facebook page listed as belonging to Caffall, which had a photo nearly identical to a driver's license picture released by authorities, included photographs of rifles he had said he had acquired, including a Czech vz 58 assault rifle.
The university issued a 'code maroon' shortly after noon, warning students and employees that an 'active shooter' was in the area west of campus and asking them to stay away.
The news of the shooting has come at a time when the nation has yet to recover from the July 20 shooting that killed 12 in the batman movie premiere, Aurora and the Wisconsin shooting at a Sikh Temple Aug.5 which took lives of six people. These recent shootings have compelled the experts and diplomats look at the US gun control laws in new light.
But, presidential candidate Mitt Romney was adamant on bringing no change to the current gun control laws in a press conference held in Miami Monday after the shooting.
"We've now had apparently ... three of these tragedies in a row and I happen to believe this is not a matter of the weapon that is used," Romney said. "It's a matter of the individuals, the choices these people make and we have to understand those kinds of choices from being made."
