Police in the US city of Seattle has commended the bravery of a student for disarming a gunman who had already killed one person and wounded three more.

The student subdued the attacker with pepper spray when he paused to reload his gun on the campus of Seattle Pacific University, and was aided in restraining the man as police arrived.

Seattle police spokesman Paul McDonagh told a news conference:

“But for the great response at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) this incident might have been much more tragic.”

The gunman is reported to have been armed with a shotgun and a knife, and indiscriminately opened fire in the university foyer.

The suspect, who has been named as 26-year-old Aaron Ybarra, was not a student at the university and has been taken into custody.

The person killed in the attack is reported to be a man in his 20s, and a female victim is in a “very serious condition” after sustaining a gunshot wound to her upper body. The other two injured were both men in their 20s and are considered to be in a stable condition.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray commented on the shooting at the university and the scale of gun violence facing the US in a statement, saying:

“Once again the epidemic of gun violence has come to Seattle, the epidemic of gun violence that is haunting this nation.”