FSU Shooting

This is the latest information about the shooting at FSU
It comes directly from the City of Tallahassee website:

Update on Shooting at Strozier Library

Police Department
Updated: November 20 at 6:00 am

November 20, 2014

6:00 a.m. press conference update

At the 6 a.m. news conference this morning, the following updates were provided.

Police officers outside Strozier Library at Florida State University early Thursday. Credit Steven Cannon/Associated Press

Police officers outside Strozier Library at Florida State University early Thursday. Credit Steven Cannon/Associated Press

The victims of the shooting were students. Their families have been notified.
A total of five officers have been placed on administrative leave as is standard procedure for officer involved shootings. This includes both FSUPD and TPD officers.
The identity of the male shooter cannot be released at this time.
Classes have been cancelled for today, Nov. 20, 2014.
Several hundred students were at Strozier Library when the incident occurred. TPD is asking anyone with information about this case to please call (850) 891-4200 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 574-TIPS. All information given is anonymous, and you could be eligible for a cash reward.
Counsellors and victims advocates are available for the entire FSU community at the Askew Student Life Center.
There are no known additional threats at this time, FSUPD has increased the presence of uniformed officers on campus.
The FSU community can get updates at alerts.fsu.edu.
The full news conference is available at http://youtu.be/cw_GOmCnDU4. Another briefing will be held at 3 p.m. at the FSU PD headquarters. Video from the 4:00 a.m. update can be viewed at http://youtu.be/PCrpOiAxmTA.

For updates on the investigation, please visit Talgov.com, Facebook.com/TPDFB, Twitter.com/TallyPD.

Previously, November 20, 4:00 am

At approximately 12:30 am on November 20, the Florida State University Police Department received a call about an armed subject at Strozier Library. As the officers were on their way to the call, they received word that one person was shot by the gunman. The initial reports indicate that as the officers arrived at the Library, they located the gunman near the entrance. He was challenged by the officers and given commands to drop his weapon, but the male fired at the officers. The officers returned fire, killing the gunman.

As local law enforcement responded to the scene, they located 3 victims suffering from gunshot wounds. All were immediately given medical treatment on scene, and two were transported to local hospitals. FSU Police department requested the Tallahassee Police Department’s assistance with the case, and Investigators from TPD’s Violent Crimes Unit and Forensic Technicians came to the scene and are currently interviewing all identified witnesses and processing evidence.

Guillermo Page @Guillermo10Page Follow Police with assault rifles inside Strozier Library #fsu  10:51 PM - 19 Nov 2014

Guillermo Page @Guillermo10
Police with assault rifles inside Strozier Library #fsu
10:51 PM – 19 Nov 2014

TPD is asking anyone with information about this case to please call (850) 891-4200 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 574-TIPS. All information given is anonymous and you could be eligible for a cash reward.

There will be a 6 am press conference for our media partners at the Florida State University Police Department. For updates please see www.talgov.com, TPD’s official Twitter account- @TallyPd and Facebook at “City of Tallahassee Police Department.”

Contact Information

David Northway, Tallahassee Police Department, 891-4200

 

UPDATE:

Myron May has been named as the shooter who wounded three students during an attack on the Strozier Library on the Tallahassee campus of FSU.

 

Myron May Identified by officials as the FSU Shooter 11/20/14

Myron May Identified by officials as the FSU Shooter 11/20/14

At 12:30 a.m. on November 20, May walked into the library and opened fire, wounding three students. Not long after the initial shots were fired was May shot dead by responding police on an access ramp leading into the library.

ABC NEWS – MYRON MAY

 

This from Tallahassee Democrat:

Update: College friend says May ‘paranoid’

Keith Jones, an educator in Kansas, was roommates with Myron May as Jones attended Florida A&M University and May attended Florida State. They became friends after both joined Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and later became roommates. Both graduated in 2005.

Jones, 31, said he received the news of the FSU shooting around 9 .m. Thursday.

Jones said May had moved back to Wewahitchka within the past two or three weeks.

“He was really smart and extremely hard working, “Jones said. “There is more to his mental health (status) that may have caused some of this. He was taking medications which caused paranoia. He used to see a therapist on a regular basis. He thought people were spying on him.”

Jones said May had moved to New Mexico, where he was working with the district attorney’s office, had a girlfriend and seemed to be doing OK.

“But he quit his job, he left his girlfriend and moved to Wewahitchka just a few weeks ago where grandmother lived,” Jones said.

Jones said he and May have stayed in touch regularly and that the two talked on Sunday. They discussed Jones’s family and kids. He said that while May had some issues, there no indication of anything that would lead up to Thursday’s shooting.

“This guy was making $160,000 to $170,000 with a law firm in Houston before moving to New Mexico,” Jones said.

Jones said that a network of friends knew of May’s mental health struggles, but because of health care restrictions, there was little they could do to approach his therapist or others to interfere on his behalf, especially since May didn’t appear to be a danger to himself.

“People were aware that he was having problems,” Jones said.

“What he did was absolutely terrible,” Jones said of the shooting. “He never had a gun in the 20 years that I’ve known him. He hadn’t shown that he was a danger to (his girlfriend) or to himself. This guy didn’t come there (to FSU) to be malicious. He wasn’t in his right mind to shoot those people and then leave, knowing police would kill him. This is just my opinion.

“He didn’t go to the shooting range. He didn’t own weapons.”

Jones said the incident, which left his best friend dead, sheds light on the plight of those who are suffering mental health issues in this country and that more needs to be done to address mental health issues and the restrictions that now limit others to intervene.

“It’s numbing,” Jones said. “You should know your best friend. But I didn’t see this coming. I don’t think he was well.”

Update 3:05 p.m.

TPD Chief Michael DeLeo said Myron May, an attorney who in Texas and New Mexico, had written journals and videos in which he expressed concern about “being targeted.” Evidence found so far indicate May was in a state of crisis, DeLeo said.

DeLeo said police have searched May’s vehicle, examined his cellphone and interviewed 20-25 primary witnesses.

He said all indications are that May acted alone and that there is no ongoing danger to anyone on campus in connection with the early morning shootings.

DeLeo also said investigators have found no signs that May ever encountered law enforcement with TPD or the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

Check back for more on this breaking story.

Update: 3 p.m.

Tallahassee Police Department Chief Michael DeLeo just confirmed that Myron D’Shawn May was the gunman who shot three people this morning at Florida State University.

Check back for updates.

Update: 2:05 p.m.

Abigail Taunton, who runs a foster home in Wewahitchka, Fla., said she loaned a house on her property to Myron May after he moved back to Wewahitchka and was trying to “help him get back on his feet.”

Taunton said there was “no indication he could do something like this” and that she is “devastated.” May ran cross country with Taunton’s sons at Wewahitchka High, she said.

“He was a little down,” Taunton said about Mays’ mood.

“He had some financial problems. Just going from a big law job to a smaller law job. I don’t know. We were trying to encourage him. He had signed up to study for the bar. We thought he was doing better and feeling better about himself. We’re just in shock like everybody else. This is just crazy.”

Taunton said May did not work for her at the Taunton Family Children’s Home, and did not know why May listed himself as “In-house Legal Counsel” for the home on his Facebook page. Taunton posted to the Taunton Family Children’s Home Facebook page to say she was “heartbroken.”

“He went to Tallahassee last Sunday,” she told the Tallahassee Democrat. “He didn’t say anything to us, just sent a note saying he needed to get away for a few days that he was fine and he would be back soon. We were just loaning our house, he didn’t have to answer to us.”

Blake Rish, 31, a lifelong resident of Wewahitchka, was stunned when heard that May was identified as the gunman.

Rish, a former baseball player at Wewahitchka High and a 2002 graduate, knew May in high school and were friends on social media.

May also played basketball in addition to running cross country and track for the Gators.

“He’s the last person on earth I’d picture doing this – he’s absolutely one of the nicest kids you’d ever meet,” Rish said.

“As well, he was one of the smartest kids you’d ever meet.”

Rish said May had recently returned to Wewahitchka and was staying in the guest house of Abigail Taunton, founder of the Taunton Family Children’s Home.

“I am really at a loss of words,” Rish said.

“Nice, super-smart, head on his shoulders. I just can’t believe what I heard.”

Adner Marcelin, who earned his undergraduate degree from FSU in 2009 and graduated this year from law school at Western Michigan University, said he knew May when both were students at Florida State.

“He was two years ahead of me,” said Marcelin, a law clerk at Parks & Crump.

“Everybody knew Myron. Looking now at the situation, we are all wondering if there was something we could have done. What we are asking ourselves is, was there something we could have done to prevent this from happening.”

Marcelin said he’d run into May in recent years and May always was encouraging Marcelin about his law school studies.

“This is a wound that touches many,” Marcelin said. “Myron was active in his fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma. All of us were members of the Black Student Union at FSU. I don’t think anybody had anything negative to say about him. It’s just shocking. Everybody wishes there could have been a better outcome.”

Check back for more updates.

Earlier story

The man the Associated Press is reporting as the gunman in this morning’s shooting at Strozier Library graduated from Florida State before attending Texas Tech University’s law school.

The AP is citing an unnamed law enforcement official as its source.

Myron May graduated from FSU in 2005 before receiving his law degree from Texas Tech, according to the State Bar of Texas’ website. The website does not list him as currently employed at a firm. He was licensed to practice law in Texas in 2009.

On Nov. 15, May posted scripture to his Facebook page. Many of his recent posts are Bible quotes:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Romans 8:38-39”

Though May is licensed to practice law in Texas, he recently moved to Wewahitchka, Fla., and put “In-house Legal Counsel at Taunton Family Children’s Home” on his page as his employment.

AbigailTaunton, who runs a foster home in Wewahitchka, told the AP May was renting a guest house she and her husband David own.