The Latest: Official: Chattanooga Shootings: Five Dead Including Gunman in Attacks at Tennessee Military Facilities

Police respond to a shooting at the Army Recruiting Center on Lee Highway in Chattanooga, Tenn.

A gunman killed four people on Thursday in attacks on two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the mayor said. A police officer and two other people were also shot in the rampage.

The gunman was killed by police, a U.S. official said.

"Today is a nightmare for the city of Chattanooga," Mayor Andy Berke said.

The shootings happened about 40 minutes and six miles apart, first at a military recruitment station and then at a Navy and Marines reserve center, the official said. People at the recruitment station fled through the back of the building.

The gunman fired 25 to 30 rounds at the recruitment station, a U.S. military official said.

Dozens of people lined up at a nearby blood donation center.

Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga confirmed to NBC News that it was treating one person involved in a shooting. Armed officers guarded the doors there.


Both of Tennessee's U.S. senators addressed the shooting on the Senate floor and offered their condolences.The governor's office in Nashville was locked down, NBC affiliate WSMV reported. In Chattanooga, the health department and a community college were locked down.

"We understand a shooting took place at the naval reserve center in Chattanooga and a police officer has been injured," Sen. Lamar Alexander said. "We understand other individuals at the naval reserve center may have injured as well."

Carolyn Taylor, who works in an area of Chattanooga that was locked down, told WRCB that she heard several gunshots before police began rushing to Amnicola Highway near the incident at the reserve center.

"I've worked on Amnicola for several years," Taylor said. "I've never seen anything like this. Never."

A White House official said President Barack Obama was being briefed on the shooting.