The News Of …

The Virginia Tech police officer who was gunned down in a campus attack joined the force six months after the university was the scene of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. He was a proud policeman who recently invited a friend to ride along with him, which made his death during a traffic stop even more puzzling.
Deriek W. Crouse, an Army veteran and married father of five, was killed Thursday after pulling a driver over in a school parking lot. 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.
“At this point, we haven’t been able to establish any kind of immediate connection between the officer and the shooter” – State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller told The Associated Press late Thursday. “That’s obviously something that’s being looked into.”
State police said in a news release early Friday that ballistics tests confirmed Crouse and the deceased suspect had been shot by the same handgun. The tests have “officially linked the two fatal shootings” – the release said.
Authorities also said a review of Crouse’s in-car video showed a male suspect with a handgun at the officer’s car at the time of the shooting.
The news release said clothing found inside a discarded backpack recovered by Blacksburg police seemed to match that of the male subject in the officer’s video. Police said they were awaiting confirmation of the deceased suspect’s identity as well as autopsy results from the medical examiner in Roanoke.

Virginia Tech.

Official warning of deadly shootings on the Virginia Tech campus Thursday was far swifter than the flat-footed response the school was accused of after a shooting rampage that left 33 people dead in 2007.
Students and parents Thursday reported receiving detailed e-mails and text messages within minutes on their computers and cellphones describing the incident, the gunman, the victim and what they should do to stay safe. In 2007, two hours passed before the first message was broadcast. A vague description of “a shooting incident” and no mention of deaths.
The university’s danger warning was much better this time around – said Frederick Cook (26), who was in the class of Holocaust survivor Professor Liviu Librescu when an armed Seung Hui Cho tried to enter the classroom.
“I do not know what else the university would be asked to do” – Cook said. “There are not a lot of alerts, but the ones that are out are meaningful” – and they were posted on the website and Twitter page, he said. “The fact that they got the word out within minutes, that’s the main thing.”
Blacksburg, Va.
The first calls reporting the shooting came into dispatch at around 12:30 p.m., said university spokesman Larry Hincker. At 12:36, dispatch issued its first of six alerts while the campus was on lockdown, which went out by text messages, e-mail, the university’s website and Twitter, and its public address system, which broadcast the alert campus-wide.
It reported “gun shots reported … Stay inside. Secure doors.” The next, 10 minutes later, provided a detailed description of the suspect — “gray sweat pants, gray hat w/neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack” — and 25 minutes later the school sent news that a police officer has been shot and of a potential second victim.
Charles Steger, the university president, said he was pleased with the speed of the alerts. The technology to broadcast alerts in several different ways did not exist in 2007. “It all worked” – he said.
Virginia Tech sophomore Abby Lorenz, 19, who lives off campus, said the alerts made her feel safe.

In the chaotic minutes following a fatal shooting at Virginia Tech Thursday, school officials were forced to test emergency procedures put in place following the 2007 campus rampage that resulted in 33 deaths.
Officials used Twitter to send a campus lockdown notice to students seven minutes after the 12:30 p.m. shooting of a Virginia Tech police officer, who was making a routine traffic stop in a campus parking lot. School officials said the gunman, who approached the officer on foot as he was making the traffic stop, fled on foot.
Soon after the shooting, a second person whom police are presuming is the gunman was found dead of a gunshot wound in another campus parking lot with the weapon nearby. The man is not yet identified.
While school officials lifted the lockdown Thursday evening, telling students they could resume their regular activities, Friday’s final exams were postponed until further notice.
In the April 2007 massacre, Virginia Tech officials were criticized and fined for waiting two hours after the first bullets were fired before issuing a campus alert. The gunman, Seung-hui Cho, fired more than 100 bullets at his victims before taking his own life. The attack is considered one of the deadliest shootings in US history.
The response Thursday was much swifter as school officials sent e-mail, text, and Twitter alerts about every 30 minutes.
“We deployed them all and we deployed them immediately to get the word out” – Mark Owczarski, a school spokesman, told the Associated Press.
Using Twitter, the school first reported – “Gun shots reported- Coliseum Parking lot. Stay Inside. Secure doors. Emergency personnel responding. Call 911 for help.”
A second tweet followed – “Suspect described as white male, gray sweat pants, gray hat w/neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack. On foot towards McComas. Call 911.”