A shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has resulted in "multiple casualties," the city's Metropolitan Police said in their initial estimates of the event, adding shortly after that a suspect had been "neutralized."

On social media, the Las Vegas Police urged citizens to avoid the area, while the university itself warned its students that the alert received was not a drill and to get to safety.

Police did not specify the number of people affected or whether they were dead or injured, saying only that "there appear to be multiple victims." The White House said only that it is following the situation very closely.

The shootings are "an epidemic that President Joe Biden has taken very seriously. That's why we've taken action. We are monitoring the situation very closely," presidential spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily news briefing.

The University of Nevada, abbreviated as UNLV, is a public institution founded in 1957 that has about 31,000 students.