People exit under tape placed by police at the scene of where a man and a woman were shot to death today inside the University of Washington's architecture building in Seattle. University police said the shooting may have been a murder-suicide. Elaine Thompson | Associated Press

Officers responding to reports of gunfire found the two and a handgun in an office on the fourth floor of Gould Hall, Assistant University Police Chief Ray Wittmier said.

The female victim, a 25-year-old university employee, had a restraining order against the man, who "almost certainly" shot her and took his own life, Wittmier said.

About six shots were fired, and the only people involved were the woman and the man, who was in his 40s, Wittmier said.

Lance Nguyen, a researcher at the Runstad Center for Real Estate Research, which has offices on the building's fourth floor, said he was a co-worker of the woman and that she had said she was worried about her former boyfriend. The woman, a research specialist, changed her telephone number and e-mailed a photo of the man to friends, asking them to watch out for him, Nguyen said.

"She said it's a psycho from her past," Nguyen said.

Student Meghan Pinch, 27, was in a first-floor classroom when she heard several loud bangs. She said she did not think they were gunshots at first but then police told everyone to evacuate.

"No one wanted to really think it was real," Pinch said as she waited outside to learn if the victims were people she knew.

"We all are pretty close in this building," she said.

Gould Hall, built in 1972, houses three architecture department offices, a dean's office, a library, shop, lab, computer facilities and classrooms, according to the university's Web site.