Early Thursday morning, gunshots rattled the peaceful, quiet Florida State University library. Three people were injured, as hundreds of students hustled to find safety behind bookshelves. A man over the loud speaker announced, “There has been a shooting in the library, stay where you are. We will be coming to each floor and clearing it, and taking care of everybody.”

Within three to five minutes of the first reports of gunfire, the Florida State and Tallahassee police departments arrived at the scene. The police encountered the gunman outside of Strozier Library and requested that he drop the handgun. According to Tallahassee police spokesman David Northway, the gunman did not comply with the commands and shot at one of the officers. The officers returned fire and ended up killing the gunman.

A 2005 graduate of Florida State University, authorities identified the gunman as Myron May. May graduated from Texas Tech University’s law school in 2009, and practiced law in both Texas and New Mexico. According to Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo, May moved back into the area a few weeks ago.

All classes and exams Thursday were canceled during the shooting. Counseling services where offered to those directly and indirectly affected by the shooting.

Surveying the scene and interviewing witnesses, investigators are trying to figure out the motive behind the shooting and what exactly happened. DeLeo, the police chief stated that it appears that none of the victims were targeted for any specific reason. May had a written journal and videos that expressed his fears of being targeted and that he wanted to bring attention to the issue of targeting. DeLeo told reporters. DeLeo also said that the documents and videos demonstrate that May was in a state of crisis.

As bad as the shooting was, things could have been much worse. There is no such thing as a good shooting, but without the quick response of the police, many more people could have been injured or possibly killed.