Daniel Lin/Each day Information-Report By way of AP
Two campus cops had been killed Tuesday by an energetic shooter who despatched Bridgewater Faculty in Virginia into lockdown and was finally captured by nearly a dozen closely armed officers on a riverbank.
Campus police officer John Painter and campus security officer J.J. Jefferson had been killed as they responded to the scenario, Bridgewater President David Bushman wrote in an electronic mail to college students, in line with the Each day Information-Report. Bushman described the 2 because the “dynamic duo,”with Painter serving as Jefferson’s greatest man at his wedding ceremony.
“The unhappiness is palpable,” Bushman wrote. “Phrases should not ample, not practically so, to specific the grief, unhappiness, worry and—justifiably—the anger all of us really feel.”
The faculty alerted college students at 1:24 p.m. to shelter in place after reviews of an energetic shooter. Campus police in addition to officers from the Harrisonburg Police Division, Rockingham County Sheriff’s Workplace, state police, and different native, state, and federal businesses responded.
“The preliminary report got here in that two officers had been shot and the armed suspect had fled the scene,” the varsity mentioned.
One neighbor, Ecliff Graves, instructed the Richmond Instances-Dispatch that he noticed the suspect run by his home in direction of the close by North River, carrying a big black duffle bag. He watched the person cross onto an island within the river.
One other resident, Michael Souders, instructed the newspaper he was driving residence when he got here throughout “a flood of cops” sporting tactical gear and flying drones over the neighborhood.
“It was regarding and slightly bizarre to occur in a city of 5,000,” he mentioned.
The suspect—shirtless and seemingly sporting a overlaying on their head—was apprehended off-campus shortly earlier than 2 p.m., although their identify has not but been launched.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin mentioned in a tweet he was briefed on the incident and would proceed to observe it.