At least three people have died after a lone gunman, who was later found dead, opened fire on a student area at the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, Mich, United States on Monday night. 

The incident began around 8:18pm local time on Monday when shots rang out before the Michigan State University Police Department sent out alerts at 8:30 p.m. advising students and staff to “run, hide, fight.”

According to police, the shooting left three people dead, with five people critically wounded.

The names of the victims were not released at the time of filing this report.

About 50,000 students of the university were believed to have been locked down during the evening as police continued their manhunt for the shooter into the next morning.

After almost four hours of searching, alerts were sent out by police that the gunman, whose name was not immediately released, was found dead in the midnight from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

But in the image released to the public, the gunman is a short black male in a cap, red shoes and a jean jacket.

The Michigan State University Police Department interim deputy, Chris Rozman said, “We are relieved to no longer have an active threat on campus while we realise there is so much healing that will need to take place.”

But Mr Rozman could not immediately confirm whether the gunman was connected to the university.