Reports out of Blacksburg have two people dead on the Virginia

Tech campus, one of them a police officer. The Collegiate Times,

the campus newspaper, quotes a Tech alert: “Suspect killed police

officer in Coliseum Lot, then fled toward Cage. Second victim was

killed in parking lot.”

The Virginia Tech campus is on a high alert after reports of gunshots, according to the university’s web site.

Campus police are reporting that the suspect is a white male in grey sweatpants, a maroon hooded sweatshirt, and a grey hat with a neon green brim. The most recent alert on the campus web site reads: “Suspect remains at large. A police officer has been shot. A potential second victim is reported at the Cage lot. Stay indoors. Secure in place.”

MSNBC is reporting that a police officer and a male-exchanged gunshot after a traffic stop on the campus. The Collegiate Times, the campus newspaper, is reporting that one person is dead. Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum is in Washington, D.C., today testifying about the 2007 campus shooting incident that left 33 people dead, including the gunman.

Television station WDBG is reporting that there is another crime scene near the Duck Pond, although the specifics about what happened there are unclear. The Daily Press has spoken to Tech students from Hampton Roads to get their description of the unfolding events. Virginia Tech senior Wesley Thomas said he and senior Rachel Kistler, both from Suffolk, were leaving campus at about 12:50 p.m. when police cars began whizzing by.

On their way home, they passed the Cassell Coliseum parking lot, where shots were reported. Every 20 seconds, another police vehicle with sirens blaring would rush by, Thomas said. “There were a lot of people standing in the parking lot and police were just arriving and closing off all the entrances,” he said.

He and Kistler got emergency text alerts from Virginia Tech just as they entered their home, he said. The couple had just been in the coliseum’s parking lot Thursday morning, he said. “We were parked right there this morning, we were kind of surprised (at the alert),” he said. “We’re kind of worried, we hope nobody got hurt. But after seeing that everyone was standing around, it kind of seems like someone did.”

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