Multiple people were injured Monday in a shooting on a US university campus, local police said, with the gunman still at large.

Campus police at Michigan State University said shots were fired Monday evening and students and staff were ordered to shelter in place.

The police later said the suspect, identified as "a short male with a mask, possibly Black," appeared to be alone and moving on foot.

"There are multiple reported injuries," MSU campus police said in a statement on Twitter, adding that victims were being taken to nearby hospitals.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was briefed on the shooting and said police were working to secure the area.

"Let's wrap our arms around the Spartan community tonight," she wrote on Twitter, referring to the university's athletic logo.

School and university shootings are alarmingly common as part of a broader wave of gun violence in the United States, where the proliferation of firearms has soared in recent years.