Kenneth Morgan Stancil III, 20, was sought for the fatal shooting Monday of a male employee in the Wayne Community College library.
Officials for the town of Goldsboro, North Carolina, where the college is located, announced that Stancil was taken into custody in Florida early Tuesday morning.
"Mr Stancil was found sleeping on the beach in Daytona City where he was approached by officers with the Volusia County Beach Patrol for violating the city's no sleeping on the beach ordinance," a police statement said.
Police and prosecutors in Florida and North Carolina "will now be working... To extradite Mr. Stancil," the statement said.
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Authorities who launched a manhunt for Stancil asked the public to be on the lookout for a white male with extensive face and neck tattoos.
The Wayne County sheriff's office said Stancil was a former student who did not graduate, but gave no possible motive for the shooting.
Wayne Community College has more than 4,000 full-time students, as well as several thousand part-time students
The campus was put on lockdown for several hours before students and employees were sent home on Monday.