Gunman kills two at Virginia Tech

WASHINGTON—A gunman shot and killed a campus police officer and a second person Thursday at Virginia Tech, the scene in 2007 of the deadliest school shooting in US history.

The university indicated on its website (www.vt.edu) that the shooter — described as a white male in a maroon hooded sweatshirt and grey sweatpants — might still be at large, as the 31,000-student campus was put under lockdown.

“The status of the shooter is unknown,” it said. “The campus community should continue to shelter in place and visitors should not come to campus.

It said the police officer, a member of Virginia Tech’s own security force, was shot and killed during a “routine traffic stop” in a parking lot near the McComas swimming pool and athletics building.

“Witnesses reported to police the shooter fled on foot heading toward the Cage, a parking lot near Duck Pond Drive,” it added. “At that parking lot, a second person was found. That person is also deceased.”

Collegiate Times, a student newspaper at Virginia Tech, said on its Twitter feed that students were being moved to a secure location inside the Squires student center on campus.

Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Virginia, was the scene of the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in US history in April 2007 when an English major, Seung-Hui Cho, 23, killed 32 people before taking his own life.

Twenty-five others were wounded.