ISTANBUL - A researcher on Thursday shot dead four colleagues and wounded three others at the Eskisehir Osmangazi University in northwestern Turkey, Turkish media reported.

Ozdemir Cakacak, governor of Eskisehir, told reporters on the scene that the assailant, identified as Volkan Bayar, shot and killed a deputy dean, the faculty secretary and two other colleagues.

"Three prosecutors have been assigned to investigate the incident," Cakacak said in a televised statement, adding more details will be released upon the completion of the investigation.

The governor did not spoke of the wounded, but media reports said three others were injured in the shooting, a rare occurrence on Turkish campuses.

On the CNNTurk footage, families and relatives of the victims were seen rushing to the university, while some academics expressing their anger over the incident.

"After the assassination, the assailant left the building with the gun in hand, but soon our security guards captured him," Hasan Gonen, president of the university, was quoted as saying.