Suspect in fatal shooting at Seattle university ID'd

SEATTLE (KGO) -- Just two weeks after the shooting near UC Santa Barbara, a lone gunman killed one person and wounded three others at Seattle Pacific University.

The suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Aaron Ybarra from Mountainlake Terrace, north of Seattle. According to a Seattle television station, he told police he expected to die today.

Police say the brave actions of several students helped end the terror. A student building monitor confronted the gunman as he tried to reload, pepper sprayed him, and was able to disarm him before he could fire again. Other students then helped pin the gunman to the ground until police arrived.

"Unfortunately in situations like this we tend to focus on just the suspect and there's a tragedy in that because the suspect creates an evil act and we only focus on the individual, not the victims or the people who supported them," said Assistant Chief Paul McDonagh. "And I think that's what we need to focus on here, because regular citizens stepped up and tried to do the right thing and I believe they prevented a more horrible tragedy than it was today."

A 19-year-old man died at Harborview Medical Center.

Hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg says a critically injured 20-year-old woman was taken to surgery. A 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old man were in satisfactory condition.

Gregg says one of those two men was not shot

The school was quickly locked down, which school officials believe helped save lives.

"After we heard a gunshot, I heard someone say there is a shooter in the building, get down," one man said.

Another witness said, "I was instructed to lay the victim's head on my lap to presumably ease her breathing. She was frantic, she was in shock at the time."

At a news conference Thursday night, police said the suspect in custody was a white male "approximately 26 years of age." They said he was not a student.

About 4,300 students attend the private Christian university, located 10 minutes from downtown Seattle.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)