4:15 p.m.
Virginia Tech officials said they'll continue police patrols as they continue to investigate the report of a gunman on campus, but reported no further leads in their search.
An alert put into effect at 9:37 a.m. was lifted at 2:41 p.m. Tech officials said classes scheduled tomorrow will be held.
At an afternoon news briefing, Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said the three teen academic leadership campers gave credible information about a suspected gunman that was appropriately treated seriously.
The suspect did not point the gun or otherwise threaten them, he added.
"The information they gave was very detailed," he said, and was deemed credible by police. "I think the girls believed what they reported," Flinchum added.
The campers, about 14 years old, were with the Higher Achievement group from Washington, D.C., Flinchum said. They arrived Tuesday and were departing today, he said.
Larry Hincker, a Tech spokesman, said authorities acted properly.
"In this day and age we didn't think we had any choice but to issue a campus alert, but at some point we felt like lacking further information we needed to lift the alert," Hincker said.
Police patrols are continuing through the night on the campus, which had been quiet through the afternoon.
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Earlier updates are posted below.)
2:55 p.m.
Virginia Tech officials this afternoon have lifted a campus alert sent out earlier today when it was reported that a gunman had been spotted.
Here's the text of Tech's latest communication:
"The campus alert is lifted. There will continue to be a large police presence on campus today. Police have not received nor discovered additional information about a person possibly carrying a weapon beyond that reported this morning. The university community may resume normal campus activity. Only Blacksburg campus classes have been cancelled today.
"While the alert has been lifted, as always, we suggest that people remain vigilant and report suspicious campus activity to Virginia Tech Police at 911 or 231-6411."
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Earlier updates are posted below.)
1:50 p.m.
Virginia Tech was mostly quiet this afternoon as authorities canceled classes for the rest of the day, asked students to stay off campus and kept an alert in effect as police searched for a gunman reported seen this morning by three teen academic campers.
Since a briefing before noon, no new information had been released but Tech released a composite sketch of the person who was the subject of the alert issued at 9:37 a.m.
At lunchtime the campus was almost completely quiet. A few people stepped outside their buildings for cigarette breaks and construction workers lounged under a tree on the Drillfield. A Montgomery county sheriff’s vehicle pulled up under another tree at the Drillfield.
Nearby, a sign above the entrance to War Memorial Gymnasium said, “Welcome Students!”
Next to Cassell Coliseum, at the basketball practice gym, a camp being held for 34 youths in first through eighth grades let out as scheduled, and parents were ushered inside to pick up their children by Tom Gabbard, an associate athletic director.
One parent, Tony Delorenzo of Blacksburg, walked out with his 11-year-old son Brandon. When he read the news on his phone earlier in the morning, he was “definitely scared,” Delorenzo said, adding that he hoped the police and everyone else on campus would be extremely vigilant.
In front of Dietrick Hall, where it was earlier reported that the gunman had been sighted, rising sophomore Colin Sweeney of Fairfax Station sat alone at a round table with his laptop open in front of him. The only other person seen in the area was a campus police officer pacing in front of Dietrick’s locked doors.
“I want my lunch,” Sweeney said, adding that he had only Ramen noodles in his dorm room. “It’s just getting blown out of proportion.”
Jacob George, 22, a Chester resident and Thomas Dale High School alumni who graduated from Tech this year and is working a summer internship in Blacksburg, walked down the sidewalk toward War Memorial Gymnasium.
“I usually work out during my lunch break,” he said. “I am worried. I’m very aware. I’m looking around all the time. But I just want to work out. I don’t know if that is a good risk to take -- get shot or work the muscles.”
George said the walk from downtown to the gym was unusually quiet.
“You just hear the cicadas and the birds,” he said before walking into the gym.
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Earlier updates are posted below.)
11:50 a.m.
BLACKSBURG -- Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said today the three academic campers who reported seeing the gunman were 13 and 14 years old, and once police determined their information to be credible, the school issued the alert at 9:37 a.m.
“We have not had any reported sightings or any more information regarding this person,” Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum told reporters at a news briefing.
Added Hincker: “We’re in a new era. Obviously this campus experienced something terrible four years ago... Strictly, as an abundance of caution, we are going to keep the campus under alert status.”
Virginia Tech's response today comes amid an expectation of scrutiny over how it will handle the situation.
Tech is appealing $55,000 in fines for federal violations resulting from how it handled the 2007 massacre. The U.S. Department of Education in March found Tech in violation of the Clery Act for waiting two hours and 15 minutes to issue a warning after the first two students were slain in a residence hall at 7:15 a.m. About 2½ hours after those shootings, senior Seung-Hui Cho killed 30 other students and professors in a classroom building before shooting himself.
Again, there have been no reports of shots fired or injuries today. But officials are searching the campus for a reported gunman and asking people to stay indoors.
“It’s really simply the world we live in today," said Hincker. You really need to communicate first and investigate later. That’s what we did.”
(Times-Dispatch staff writer Darryl Slater reported from Blacksburg; Times-Dispatch staff writer Karin Kapsidelis contributed from Richmond.
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Earlier updates are posted below.)
11:15 a.m.
Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said authorities still wanted people to stay inside while the search for the reported gunman continued. He spoke at an 11 a.m. news briefing outside Burruss Hall on campus.
“We have not found the person matching the description,” Flinchum said. “I’m not sure how many people have been stopped.”
Larry Hincker, a Tech spokesman, said the youths who reported seeing the gunman were attending the Higher Achievement leadership camp for young people.
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Earlier updates are posted below.)
11:05 a.m.
Virginia State Police said this morning the agency is assisting Virginia Tech authorities in the search for the reported gunman. “We’re in a support role here, so we’re doing whatever they need us to do,” said Sgt. Robert Carpentieri, a state police spokesman.
The department has six or seven state police units on campus, including supervisors, he said.
Police from Blacksburg, Montgomery and Christianburg have also responded.
FBI spokeswoman Dee Rybiski tells the Associated Press that agents are on their way to assist at the campus.
On CNN, Kelsey Heiter, the managing editor of the Collegiate Times, the school newspaper, described the situation in a telephone interview as "a little bit of a scare right now."
Tech officials, meantime, are holding a news briefing outside Burruss Hall at this hour to provide more information.
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Earlier updates are posted below.)
10:45 a.m.
As the search continued for a reported gunman on Virginia Tech's campus this morning, Gov. Bob McDonnell's spokeswoman issued this statement:
“Governor McDonnell is in constant contact with law enforcement officials. All state resources have been made available to assist Virginia Tech Police department and local law enforcement in the search for this man who was allegedly sighted on campus with a firearm. Of course, this report is a frightening reminder of the events that took place four years ago on the Tech campus. Virginia Tech has correctly taken all precautions to ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff and the Blacksburg community while law enforcement, Virginia Tech officials and the administration work diligently to ensure that this incident is investigated thoroughly.”
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. An earlier update is posted below.)
Virginia Tech officials issued an alert this morning about a gunman being spotted at the school's Blacksburg campus.
The alert, issued at 9:37 a.m., said a person with a gun had been spotted near Dietrick Hall. At 10:29 a.m., as a search continued, officials issued another alert advising people to stay indoors until further notice.
Dietrick is a three-story, 93,000-square-foot dining center on campus that also houses a convenience store, laundry area and central bake shop.
A short time after issuing its original alert, Virginia Tech said that at 9:09 a.m., three juveniles attending a camp at the university reported seeing a white male outside of New Residence Hall East holding what may have been a handgun. The three said the weapon was covered by a cloth or covering of some sort.
The male was described as 6 feet tall with light brown hair and no facial hair or glasses and wearing a blue and white-striped shirt, gray shorts and brown sandals.
He reportedly was walking fast in the direction of the volleyball courts.
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 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Montgomery County were patrolling the campus, continuing to look for the subject.
People seeing anything suspicious were told to call the Virginia Tech police at (540) 231-6411 or 911.
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