The officer was killed after pulling a driver over in a traffic stop. The gunman - who was not involved in the traffic stop - walked into the parking lot and shot the officer, Sergeant Robert Carpentieri said. Police wouldn’t talk about a possible motive.
A law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that the gunman was dead, but would not say how he died.
It appeared the gunman died about a quarter-mile away from the traffic stop, in another school parking lot, where officials said a man had been found dead with a gun nearby. While police at a news conference wouldn’t confirm the second body was the gunman, Carpentieri said “you can kind of read between the lines.’’
The shooting prompted a lockdown that lasted for about four hours.
“Today, tragedy again struck Virginia Tech,’’ said university president Charles Steger. “Our hearts are broken again.’’
The officer had served on the campus police force for four years. State Police were investigating whether he had been specifically targeted.
Students were preparing for exams were suddenly told to take precautions. Heavily armed officers walked around campus as caravans of SWAT vehicles and other police cars with emergency lights flashing patrolled nearby.
“A lot of people, especially toward the beginning, were scared,’’ said Jared Brumfield, a 19-year-old freshman from Culpeper, Va., who was among those who were locked in the Squires Student Center.
The university sent updates about every 30 minutes, regardless of whether they had any new information, school spokesman Mark Owczarski said.
“It’s crazy that someone would go and do something like that with all the stuff that happened in 2007,’’ said Corey Smith, a 19-year-old sophomore from Mechanicsville, Va., who was headed to a dining hall near the site of one of the shootings.
Campus was quieter than usual because classes ended Wednesday and students were preparing for final exams, which were to begin today. The school has postponed them.
