Cops: Virginia Tech officer, suspect shot by same gun
(CBS/AP) BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech police officer who was gunned down in Thursday's campus attack joined the force six months after the university was the scene of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.
Deriek W. Crouse, an Army veteran and married father of five, was killed on Thursday after pulling a driver over in a school parking lot around noon. Police said the gunman walked up, shot the officer and then fled on foot before he apparently killed himself nearby. The deceased suspect was not involved in the traffic stop.
Police said they don't know what motivated the officer's killing or whether there was any link between the shooter, who has not been identified, and Crouse.
State police said in a news release early Friday that ballistics tests "officially linked the two fatal shootings" and confirmed Crouse and the deceased suspect had been shot by the same handgun.
The news release said clothing found inside a discarded backpack recovered by Blacksburg police seemed to match that of a male subject seen in Crouse's in-car video. Police said they were awaiting confirmation of the deceased suspect's identity as well as autopsy results from the medical examiner in Roanoke.
Police said Crouse called in the traffic stop at 12:15 p.m. 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. He had a gunshot wound and a gun nearby.
The events unfolded on the same day Virginia Tech officials were in Washington, fighting a $55,000 federal government fine over their handling of the 2007 massacre where 33 people were killed.
This time, though, 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.
Heavily armed officers swarmed the campus and caravans of SWAT vehicles and other police cars with emergency lights flashing patrolled nearby.
Thursday's shooting brought back painful memories. About 150 students gathered silently for a candlelight vigil on a field facing the stone plaza memorial for the 2007 victims. An official vigil is also planned for Friday night.
"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."
Police would not rule out a connection between the shootings and an armed robbery Wednesday in Radford, about 10 miles from Blacksburg. According to media reports, Radford police were looking for a man they considered armed and dangerous after an armed robbery at a local real estate office.
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