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(Matt Gentry/Roanoke Times/AP Photo) |
Two people, including a police officer, were shot and
killed Thursday afternoon on the campus of Virginia Tech, the scene of a 2007
massacre in which 33 people were slain, the authorities said. The campus police
officer, whose name was not released, was shot at close range by a man who had
walked up to him as the officer was making a traffic stop in a school parking
lot at about noon, the police said.
The shooter then fled the scene, the authorities said,
leading to a university-wide lockdown of students and staff in campus
buildings, the activation of the school’s emergency notification alert system
and hundreds of police officers hurrying to respond.
The second victim, whose identity has not been released,
was found dead from a gunshot wound, about a quarter of a mile from where the
officer had been shot.
The authorities would not say whether the second victim
was the man who shot the officer, but by late Thursday afternoon the police had
lifted the campus lockdown, saying there was “no longer an active threat,” and
allowed people to go home.
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“We do not believe the gunman was related in any way to the traffic stop,” said Gene Deisinger, the deputy chief of police at Virginia Tech.
No classes were in session on Thursday because students
had been given a day off to prepare for finals, but there were still thousands
of students, staff and faculty members on campus at the time, officials said.
The exams have since been postponed.
Charles W. Steger, the president of the university,
described the shooting as a “wanton act of violence,” but the authorities would
not discuss a possible motive or disclose other key details about what had
happened, saying that they were continuing to investigate.
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