.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
A police officer and another person were fatally shot at Virginia Tech on Thursday, and the status of the gunman remained unknown three hours after the shootings, the university said.
Several law enforcement agencies descended on the 2,600-acre campus where 32 people were killed by a gunman in a 2007 shooting rampage. The campus was placed on lockdown, and authorities ordered students to remain indoors as they searched for the shooter.
The officer was killed shortly after 12:00 p.m. local time during a routine traffic stop on campus.
Witnesses to that shooting in the parking lot of Cassell Coliseum, an athletic facility, reported the suspect fled on foot to a large nearby parking lot, where another victim was found.
Julia Fleming, a Virginia Tech freshman, told WDBJ-TV that she did not hear any shots being fired, but saw the officer covered in blood.
"I guess the officer didn't make it because they covered him with sheets," the visibly shaken student said.
The suspect was described as a white male wearing gray sweatpants, a gray hat with a neon-green brim, a maroon hooded sweatshirt and a backpack, the university said.
The gunman's whereabouts were not immediately known, although the Collegiate Times, an independent student newspaper, reported several instances of police activity at buildings across the campus.
A SWAT team entered the Squires Student Center, where students had been moved to a secure room, but left after a search of the building did not uncover any suspicious people inside.
No classes were in session as Thursday was a designated "reading day" ahead of final exams. Exams scheduled for Friday have been postponed, the school said.
Public transit service to and from the campus in Blacksburg was suspended.
The university said it would hold a media briefing on the shootings at 4:30 p.m. local time.
