Crimson Red Sports

Virginia Tech University, the site of the country's worst massacre, is on lockdown after two people, including a police officer, were shot and killed on the campus.

The school said the suspect is at large and students are being told, "Stay indoors. Secure in place."

An alert on the Virginia Tech school's website said: "There is an active campus alert in Blacksburg. Everyone should seek shelter or stay where you are. Blacksburg Transit service is suspended until the alert is lifted."

Virginia Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said a campus police officer stopped a vehicle shortly after noon today in the school's Coliseum parking lot, near McComas Hall.

"During the traffic stop. the officer was shot and killed. There were witnesses to this shooting," Owczarski said in the statement.

"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," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/virginia-tech-lockdown-shooting-campus/story?id=15114257

Goes to show that there's no such thing as a "routine" traffic stop. 

Goes to show that there's no such thing as a "routine" traffic stop. 

***It appears now that the 2nd person killed was the shooter, who apparently shot himself.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/shots-fired-virginia-tech-campus-university-article-1.988669?localLinksEnabled=false

***It appears now that the 2nd person killed was the shooter, who apparently shot himself.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/shots-fired-virginia-tech-campus-university-article-1.988669?localLinksEnabled=false

I was trained in law enforcement.  Our primary instructor was proud to always state, "No such thing as a routine stop."

The police officer killed was Deriek Crouse, a married father of 5 children.  :(

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/12/09/slain_va_tech_officer_identified_as_father_vet/

 :( :( :(
Prayers for the family of that officer. Another one of our brave protectors here at home taken down senselessly.  :pray:

You're dead on, CB. The thing is, with him and the shooter dead, it may be a long time, if ever, before anyone knows why this happened. I really feel for his family.  :(  :pray:

I talked with my buddy in Virginia.  He said (speculation) that the traffic stop was related to a robbery that occurred the previous day.  If so, and if the shooter was the robbery suspect, then we'll know soon why it happened.

The man who fatally shot a campus police officer at Virginia Tech on Thursday before killing himself was a student at a nearby university who had stolen a vehicle at gunpoint the day before, officials said.

Virginia State Police on Friday identified the gunman as 22-year-old Ross Truett Ashley, a part-time student at Radford University in Radford, Virginia.

Ashley entered a real estate office in Radford on Wednesday and demanded the keys to an employee's white 2011 Mercedes Benz sport utility vehicle at gunpoint.

He drove off in the vehicle and later dumped it on the campus of Virginia Tech some time before his deadly confrontation with 39-year-old Deriek Crouse, an officer with the Virginia Tech campus police...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/10/usa-crime-virginiatech-idUSN1E7B80FI20111210

Directly below the story linked above was an article, or link to an article, where you can read about the killer. More articles about the killer's life and tribulations will follow. Here is an opportunity for the media to take a bite out of crime. Leave the killer and his life, family, and all his grievances with society in a pine box somewhere. No more instant fame for these kooks.  But will the liberal media chose the life of another police officer or innocent civilian someday soon, or a glorifying, justifying story that they do not have to work to get.

Right.  Here's his photo.  Looks like a typical college kid.  Admittedly, I expected a thug when this story broke.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/09/police-identify-virginia-tech-gunman-as-22-year-old-student-at-nearby-school/?test=latestnews

I left the link off for all the reasoning stated above. ???

I know.  I added it to keep your blood flowing (and emphasize that I searched Foxnews.com).

It did. BTW, what does Fox News have to do with anything?

They're fair and balanced.  I wanted to assure you that I was using a well-grounded site (e.g., not Bleacher.com).  HTH.  :eyeroll:

Kudos on the Fair and Balanced truism. If you meant your link, I didn't click it. 

Yep, the link.  I was going to move this thread to a more appropriate forum, whatever that was, but decided to banter with you first.  :-*

If Va Tech keeps it up we'll have to do a stickie.

Police said Ashley walked up to patrolman Deriek W. Crouse and fired, then took off for the campus greenhouses, ditching his pullover, wool cap and backpack. He made his way to a nearby parking lot and when a deputy spotted him, he took his own life

Well, I'm not a raving lunatic. This is what I was seeing on the news reports. Not shot from someone in the vehicle from traffic stop.

True, not raving.  :clap:
The confusion was understandable.
1. First reports were that officer was killed during routine traffic stop;
2. Reportedly related to earlier robbery;
3. The shooter changed clothes, then killed himself (supposedly), so police kept searching for person wearing clothing described by witnesses at traffic stop.
4. As usual, there were erroneous reports of sightings all around the region, including on I-81 and in campus dorms.

I apologize if you didn't receive appropriate cred.  Here, have one:  #+

:Chuckle: Thanks buddy. They interviewed a girl that supposedly witnessed the whole thing and that's what she said, that the shooter walked up behind the officer and shot him. I don't know why, because the end result was the same, but I actually was a little relieved to hear that. You mentioned you had law enforcement training and you know like I do that when you approach the car, you never fully expose yourself to the driver or anyone else in the car. That's the reason why, so your odds of getting shot, if they have a gun, are greatly reduced. I couldn't see that happening to an experienced cop and someone who spent 39 years in the military.

A local channel (CBS affiliate in Roanoke, VA) is broacasting the officer's funeral live. Invasion of the family's privacy? Maybe they asked for permission but even still...