Xinghan Xu, 20, a junior Economics major at Virginia Tech, bows in honour of slain Virginia Tech police officer, Deriek Crouse at a makeshift memorial on the Virginia Tech campus, December 9, 2011. Picture: AP Source: AP
Police identified the Virginia Tech gunman today as Ross Truett Ashley, a part-time college student from nearby Radford University. Picture: AP Source: AP
Virginia Tech police officer Deriek W. Crouse. Picture: Supplied Source: AFP
- Virginia Tech gunman identified as a university student
- But no motive found yet in killing of local police officer
- Shooting described as "wanton, random act of violence"
- In pictures: Virginia Tech shooting
US police have identified the Virginia Tech gunman as a part-time college student from nearby Radford University, though they still do not know what led him to kill a police officer and then himself.
Thursday's shooting shook up the campus, the scene of the United States' worst mass slaying in recent memory four years ago.
The day before the shooting, 22-year-old Ross Truett Ashley stole a sport utility vehicle at gunpoint from a real estate office in nearby Radford, police said. He dumped the car on the Virginia Tech campus, and it was found on Thursday.
Police said he walked up to the police officer he did not know and fired, then took off for the campus greenhouses, ditching his pullover, wool cap and backpack. He made his way to a nearby carpark, and when a deputy spotted him, he shot himself.
Deriek W. Crouse, 39, was the police officer killed. He had been on the Virginia Tech force for four years, joining about six months after 33 people were killed in a classroom building and dorm April 16, 2007.
Crouse pulled over a student on Thursday and was shot while sitting in his unmarked cruiser. The student didn't have any link to the gunman, state police spokeswoman Corrine Geller said today at a news conference.
Shortly before 12.30 pm, police received a call from a witness who said an officer had been shot. About six minutes later, the first campus-wide alert was sent by email, text message and electronic signs in university buildings. Many students on campus were preparing for exams, and they were told to stay indoors.
Fifteen minutes after the witness called police, a deputy sheriff noticed a man at the back of another carpark nearby. The man was by himself, looking around furtively and acting "a little suspicious," according to Ms Geller.
The deputy drove up and down the rows of the sprawling carpark and lost sight of the man for a moment. The deputy then found the man lying on the pavement, shot to death. The handgun was nearby.
Police said nobody witnessed the suicide.
The shootings unfolded on the same day Virginia Tech officials were in Washington, fighting a federal government fine over their handling of the 2007 massacre, and the shooting brought back painful memories.
About 150 students gathered silently on Thursday night for a candlelight vigil on a field facing the memorial for the 2007 victims.
"Why Tech, why again?" said Philip Sturgill, a jewellery store owner. "It's so senseless. This is a lovely, lovely place."
An official vigil was planned for Friday night.
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