The president of Hampton University, in Hampton, Va., is defending the decision not to immediately send out a campus-emergency notification after three men were wounded in a shooting incident in a dormitory lobby early this morning, the Daily Press reported. The president, William R. Harvey, lives on the campus and said he was on the scene 15 minutes after the shootings occurred and knew the suspected gunman was in custody, the newspaper said.

The incident — in which a gunman reportedly followed a pizza deliveryman into the lobby and shot the driver and the dorm monitor before turning a gun on himself — occurred about 1 a.m. The university sent out its first emergency alert at 3 a.m., Mr. Harvey said at a news conference this afternoon.

The suspect was described as an 18-year-old former student who withdrew from Hampton in November. A spokeswoman for the university police said he was carrying three weapons, but would not elaborate on the types of weapons. The alleged gunman and the other wounded men were taken to hospitals. None of their injuries were considered life-threatening, the spokeswoman said.

Mr. Harvey visited dormitories on the campus today to discuss the situation with students, some of whom had complained about the two-hour delay before they received official notification. At the news conference, he praised the quick response of the university police, saying they “may well have avoided further tragedy.” He also said he continued “to believe that Hampton University is one of the safest campuses anywhere.” —Charles Huckabee