GRAMBLING, La. — Authorities were searching Wednesday for a suspect in a shooting that killed a Grambling State University student and his friend after an altercation on the Louisiana college’s campus.

Lincoln Parish Sheriff Mike Stone said the suspect and victims knew each other ‘‘to some extent’’ and stressed that the shooting wasn’t random or an act of terrorism.

The suspect remained at large hours after the shooting, but classes at the historically black college were held.

The sheriff’s office said the suspect was a black male but didn’t release a detailed description of him. Both shooting victims also were black, according to a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

University spokeswoman Kathy Spurlock identified the victims as Grambling junior Earl Andrews and Monquiarious Caldwell, both 23 and from Farmerville, La.

‘‘It was an altercation that started inside one of the dorm rooms and spilled out into the courtyard,’’ Lincoln Parish sheriff’s spokesman Stephen Williams said. ‘‘We’re interviewing witnesses.’’

associated press