2 Dead in Virginia Tech Shooting

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

The officer was identified as Deriek W. Crouse, 39, an Army veteran and father of five.

The university said yesterday that Crouse joined the Virginia Tech Police Department on Oct. 27, 2007, about six months after 33 people were killed at the school.

Crouse previously worked at a jail and a sheriff's department. Yesterday a gunman walked into a parking lot and shot Crouse, who was conducting a traffic stop, State Police said.

Sgt. Robert Carpentieri said it appeared that the shooter was not in the car that had been pulled over. He said another officer later spotted a second person in a different parking lot who was alive at the time. That person, who was not immediately identified, later died of a gunshot wound.

Police would not say at an afternoon news conference whether the second dead person was the gunman who killed the officer. However, a law enforcement official who had knowledge of the case and spoke on condition of anonymity said the gunman was believed to be dead.

Virginia Tech officials said on the school's website that a weapon was found near the second body. School officials also said there was no longer an active threat and that normal activities could resume.

Investigators were interviewing the person who was pulled over. Carpentieri also said he couldn't say exactly how many people were involved. The officer's shooting prompted a lockdown of several hours.

As police hunted for the killer, the school applied the lessons learned nearly five years ago, warning students and faculty members via email and text message to stay indoors.