Va. Tech gunman kills cop, apparently commits suicide

Associated Press

BLACKSBURG, Va.

A gunman killed a police officer in a Virginia Tech parking lot Thursday and then apparently shot himself to death nearby in a baffling attack that shook up the campus nearly five years after it was the scene of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.

The shooting took place on the same day Virginia Tech officials were in Washington, fighting a government fine over their alleged mishandling of the 2007 bloodbath in which 33 people were killed. Before it became clear that the gunman in Thursday’s attack was dead, the school applied the lessons learned during the last tragedy, locking down the campus and using a high-tech alert system to warn students and faculty members to stay indoors.

“In light of the turmoil and trauma and the tragedy suffered by this campus by guns, I can only say words don’t describe our feelings, and they’re elusive at this point in time,” university president Charles Steger said. “Our hearts are broken again for the family of our police officer.”

The officer was killed after pulling a driver over in a traffic stop. The gunman — who was not involved in the traffic stop — walked into the parking lot and ambushed the officer. Police did not know what the motive was.

The officer was identified as Deriek W. Crouse, a 39-year-old Army veteran and married father of five who joined the campus police force about six months after the 2007 massacre, the school said.

Though authorities wouldn’t confirm specific details about the gunman, they released a time line of events.

About 12:15 p.m., the officer called in the traffic stop. After a few minutes passed without hearing from the officer, dispatch tried to get in touch with him but didn’t get a response. About 15 minutes later, police received the first call from a witness who said an officer had been shot at the Cassell Coliseum parking lot and the gunman had fled on foot.

Local, state and federal officials responded immediately. At 1 p.m., an officer saw a suspicious man in a parking lot known as The Cage. The man had a gunshot wound, and a gun was nearby. Authorities said they responded to numerous other calls of suspicious activity but found that there were no other threats and lifted the campus lockdown, about four hours after the initial alerts.

The officer, who wasn’t immediately identified, had served on the campus police force for four years. State police still were investigating whether he had been targeted specifically. The campus force has about 50 officers and 20 full- and part-time security guards.