TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A gunman opened fire Thursday at Florida State University, killing two people and wounded at least five others, police said. The 20-year-old gunman was the son of a sheriff’s deputy whose former service weapon was used in the shooting, authorities said.

The two people who died were not students at the university, but the shooter is believed to be a student, Florida State University Police Chief Jason Trumbower.

Five people were being treated at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Trumbower said, and the shooter was also receiving medical attention.

Students and frightened parents hid in a bowling alley and crammed into a freight elevator inside the student union after hearing gunshots outside the building.

Ambulances, fire trucks and patrol vehicles from multiple law enforcement agencies raced toward the campus just west of Florida’s capital after the university issued an active shooter alert midday Thursday, saying police were responding near the student union.

Ryan Cedergren, a 21-year-old communications student, said he and about 30 others hid in the bowling alley in the union’s lower level after seeing students running from a nearby bar.

“In that moment, it was survival,” he said.

After about 15 minutes, university police escorted the students out of the building and he saw a person getting emergency treatment on the lawn, he said.

Chris Pento told WCTV in Tallahassee that he and his twins were getting lunch at the student union during a campus tour when they heard gunshots.

“It was surreal. And people just started running,” he told the TV station.

They packed into a service elevator after encountering locked doors at the end of a hallway. “That was probably the scariest point because we didn’t know. It could get worse, right?” he said. “The doors opened and two officers were there, guns drawn.”

Florida State’s alert system announced about three hours after the shooting that law enforcement had “neutralized the threat.” Officials asked students and faculty to avoid the student union and other areas still considered an active crime scene.