Another fatal shooting at Virginia Tech

A UNIVERSITY in the US was again the scene of a fatal shooting yesterday after a gunman shot dead a police officer and then apparently killed himself.

The incident was the first involving gunfire on the Virginia Tech campus since 33 people were killed there in 2007 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

Police said the gunman was believed to be dead.

Virginia Tech officials said that a weapon was recovered near the second body found in a car park. It was not immediately clear if the second body was that of the gunman.

Officials also said there was no longer an active threat and that normal activities could resume following a lockdown lasting several hours.

The college applied lessons learned nearly five years ago, closing down the campus and warning students and faculty members via email and text message to stay indoors.

Yesterday’s shooting came as university officials were in Washington DC appealing over a $55,000 (€41,200) fine imposed over the school’s response to the 2007 rampage.

The campus yesterday swarmed with heavily armed police. Students hid in buildings, a day before final exams were to begin.

“A lot of people, especially toward the beginning were scared,” said Jared Brumfield, 19, who was locked in the Squires Student Centre.

“A lot of people are loosening up now. I guess we’re just waiting it out, waiting for it to be over.”

The college said a police officer pulled a man over for a traffic stop and was shot and killed. The gunman ran towards a nearby car park, where a second person was found dead.

The suspect was described as a white man wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, a grey hat with neon green brim, a maroon hoodie and a backpack.

“It’s crazy that someone would go and do something like that with all the stuff that happened in 2007,” said Corey Smith.

He said that he stayed inside after seeing the alerts from the school.

The campus was quieter than usual because classes ended yesterday and students were preparing for exams. The university said those tests would be postponed.

In 2007, student gunman Seung-Hui Cho chained shut the doors to a classroom building where he killed 30 more people and then himself.