Gunman dead following US university rampage

A gunman opened fire at a hall of residence and a classroom at a US university today, killing at least 21 people in the deadliest campus shooting in the country's history.

The gunman was killed but it was unclear if he was shot by police or took his own life after the shooting spree at Virginia Tech.

A separate report from ABC news currently puts the death toll at 29. Another from Fox News claims 32 have died.

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said Virginia Tech president Charles Steger, adding: "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."

The university reported shootings at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre campus, beginning at about 7.15am (12.15 Irish time) at West Ambler Johnston, a co-educational hall of residence which houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

Some, but not all, of the dead were students. One student was killed in a dormitory and the others were killed in the classroom, Virginia Tech police chief W.R. Flinchum said.

The name of the gunman was not released. It was not known if he was a student.

After today's shootings, all entrances to the campus were closed and classes cancelled. The university set up a meeting place for families to reunite with their children and made counsellors available. A convocation was planned for Tuesday at the school's basketball arena.

"There's just a lot of commotion. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on," said Jason Anthony Smith, 19, who lives in the dormitory where the shooting took place.

Aimee Kanode, a first-year student, said the shooting happened on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston dormitory, one floor above her room. The resident assistant in Kanode's dormitory knocked on her door about 8am (1pm Irish time) to notify students to stay put.

"They had us under lockdown," Kanode said. "They temporarily lifted the lockdown, the gunman shot again."

"We're all locked in our dorms surfing the internet trying to figure out what's going on," Kanode said.

Madison Van Duyne, a student who was interviewed by telephone on CNN, said: "We are all in lockdown. Most of the students are sitting on the floors away from the windows just trying to be as safe as possible."

Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks, but said they have not determined a link to the shootings.

It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of a shooting.

In August 2006, the opening day of classes was cancelled and the campus closed when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy involved in the manhunt was killed on a trail just off campus.

The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges.

Before today, the deadliest campus shooting in US history took place in 1966 at the University of Texas, where Charles Whitman climbed to the 28th-floor observation deck of a clock tower and opened fire.

He killed 16 people before he was gunned down by police. In the Columbine High School bloodbath near Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives.