During a one-hour period, the university issued four separate alerts and kept students on campus in lockdown Officials at Virginia Tech university have lifted a lockdown on campus after a police officer and another person were shot dead.
Officials said the gunfire began when a Virginia Tech police officer made a routine traffic stop on campus.Reports suggested that the gunman was the second victim, but university officials and police would not confirm.
Virginia Tech was the site of the worst US school shooting in 2007, when a gunman killed 32 people and himself.
"Our hearts are broken again," said Larry Hincker, an associate vice-president at an afternoon news conference.
State police officer Sgt Robert Carpentieri told reporters it appeared that the shooter was not in the car that was pulled over.
The deceased officer had served on the campus police force for four years, but officials did not give further information on the officer's identity.
Weapon recovered As events unfolded on Thursday police swarmed the campus looking for the shooting suspect, a white male, after he escaped on foot.
The campus was placed on "lockdown", with staff and students advised to remain in place and not go out while the alert was valid.
Virginia Tech said on its website: "Shortly after noon today, a Virginia Tech police officer stopped a vehicle on campus during a routine traffic stop in the Coliseum parking lot near McComas Hall.
Student Juliet Fielding saw police on campus attempting to revive a fellow officer
"Witnesses reported to police the shooter fled on foot heading toward the Cage, a parking lot near Duck Pond Drive. At that parking lot, a second person was found. That person is also deceased."
The university's website said a weapon had been recovered "at the location of the second individual".
In a Twitter update issued at 1630 EST (2130 GMT), the university said there were "no new reports" of suspicious activity. "The status of the shooter remains unknown."
Officials then gave a news conference in which they confirmed the alert was over.
False alarm fears The suspect was said to be wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, a grey hat with neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack.
Arsalan Heydarian, a graduate student, told BBC that he was in an engineering lab when the events happened.
"We heard sirens around the campus," he said. "We then started to get text messages via the new security system, telling students to stay where they are and stay away from windows."
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Harry White Physics undergraduateI decided to just check to see how serious it was - I saw it was actually someone shooting someone”
Another student, Pranav Angara, said police cars surrounded his building and were going through all the dorms.
"We've had false alarms like this and I thought it might be another false alarm," he said The incident came on the same day as Virginia Tech appealed against a $55,000 (£35,200) fine imposed by the US Education Department for not reacting quickly enough to the April 2007 massacre.
Mr Heydarian was a freshman at Virginia Tech in 2007.
"Now I'm graduating with my masters degree in a few months, and have witnessed a second round of shootings," he said.
The university, which has about 30,000 students, implemented a highly advanced security alert system after the tragedy.
It was put to the test in 2008, when an exploding nail gun cartridge was mistaken for gunfire.
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