Virginia Tech lifts campus alert

It was a hectic day on the Virginia Tech campus Thursday.  Tech police and four other police departments searched most of the day for a man believed to have a gun on campus. 

It all started around 9 a.m. when three campers attending summer camp reported seeing a white man holding what they believed was a gun in the vicinity of Deitrick dining hall or New Residence Hall East.  The three teenage girls described the man as a white male, six feet tall, light brown hair, wearing a blue and white striped shirt, gray shorts and brown sandals.  The girls reported the man did not have facial hair or glasses.  Early Thursday police released a composite sketch based on the description.

Police say the information from the campers was deemed credible and an alert was issued.  Law enforcement searched campus buildings but no further sightings or reports came in.  The campus alert was lifted just before 3 p.m. Thursday and things have returned to normal. 

Although the majority of college students were not on campus, Virginia Tech was hosting and holding numerous camps and summer classes.  One student who was in class told NEWS7 that for the most part the campus emergency alert system worked as it should.  A message appeared on the screen inside the classroom, and the professor and students started receiving text messages and emails from the university, alerting them to what was going on. 

The students in that class were dismissed about 30 minutes after the initial alert went out.  They said when the alert vanished from in-classroom screens they assumed it was over. 

While the alert has been lifted, local law enforcement will still be on campus Thursday night in both marked and unmarked vehicles.  The university is asking people to remain vigilant and report suspicious campus activity to Virginia Tech Police at 911 or 231-6411.

The following is a statement from Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum that was read at the press briefing given at 3:15 p.m. today

As you know, we received a report this morning from three young people, we think about 14 years old, who reported seeing a person with a weapon in the vicinity of Deitrick Dining Hall or New Residence Hall East.  They gave a good description upon being interviewed. 

Based on the information provided and lacking further information, we couldn’t rule out that this wasn’t credible.   Therefore, we felt like there was no other option than to issue a campus alert and ask our people to remain secured indoors. 

Let me be more specific.  At 9:09 a.m. three juveniles attending a camp at the university reported seeing a white male, 6 feet tall, with light brown hair outside of New Residence Hall East holding what may have been a handgun.  They say the weapon was covered by a cloth or covering of some sort.  He was walking fast in the direction of the volleyball courts.   He was wearing a blue and white striped shirt (stripes were vertical), gray shorts and brown sandals.  The subject had no facial hair or glasses.

Officers responded immediately to the area but found no one matching the description.  Police have encountered no other witnesses reporting this individual or anything suspicious.  Law enforcement officers from VTPD, Blacksburg PD, Christiansburg PD, Virginia State Police, and Montgomery County Sheriff's Office are patrolling the campus, continuing to look for the subject. 

We have kept the campus on alert since then through an abundance of caution.   We believe that this was a most prudent course of action.

Since the time of the initial call (@9am this morning) there have been no on-going threats known or discovered.  We have received NO other reports of a person with a gun or any other threatening behaviors.   We have interviewed several persons similar in description to that provided by witnesses this morning.   None of those subjects are the person described by the witnesses.

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EARLIER COVERAGE

A large police presence will remain on the Virginia Tech campus.  There's been no reports or sightings of the man possibly carrying a gun on the campus since the original report came in Thursday morning.

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News conference has started.

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Virginia Tech has lifted the campus alert.