Authorities are investigating mailed packages linked to a gunman who shot three people before he was killed by officers at Florida State University, the FBI said on Friday.
Police said the packages were part of their investigation into why the gunman opened fire in a crowded library.
Thought to have been mailed by suspected shooter Myron May before his violent outburst, the packages were not a threat to the public or addressees, said officials at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. One was intercepted by the Houston office of the FBI.
More Top Picks Best Desk Lamps For Eye Strain
“The package did not contain any hazardous threat to the public,” said Special Agent Shauna Dunlap, an agency spokeswoman, who would not provide more details.
Police have said journals and videos by May, a 31-year-old Florida State alumnus who authorities said was experiencing a mental crisis, showed that he thought he was being targeted by the government.
A college friend, Joe Paul, told a Washington-area television station that May recently contacted him and several others asking for their addresses so he could mail them something. Hours before the shootings, he said, May again messaged the group on Facebook, saying the packages should arrive by Friday.
“Maybe he was sending us a manifesto,” Paul told ABC 7 News in the Washington, D.C. area.
Florida State on Friday reopened Strozier Library, its main library on the North Florida campus, where one student was critically wounded in the shooting on Thursday. May was quickly shot dead by law enforcement officers.
“It’s hard coming back,” said Taylor Krause, a senior from Atlanta, while waiting for the library to reopen.
The library was “the place I felt most safe on campus,” said Krause, who was inside during the shooting. “Now that’s probably not going to be the case for a while.”
About 40,000 students attend Florida State, a research university well-known nationally for its strength in football.
A 2005 Florida State graduate, May received his law degree in Texas. He recently moved back to Florida after quitting his job and breaking up with his girlfriend in New Mexico, where he told authorities he heard voices and thought he was being watched, according to police reports.