UPDATE from ABC News:
A campus police officer and campus safety officer were killed during a shooting at a Virginia college Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
Multiple agencies responded to Bridgewater College in Bridgewater following a report of an active shooter around 1:20 p.m. local time, school officials said.
“The initial report came in that two officers had been shot and the armed suspect had fled the scene. State and local law enforcement immediately responded to the campus and initiated a massive search operation for the suspect,” Bridgewater College said in a statement on the university’s website. “By 1:55 p.m., the male shooter was taken into police custody.”
Virginia State Police also confirmed a suspect was apprehended in the active shooting but did not provide any further details.
The two officers died from their injuries, Bridgewater spokesperson Logan Boger confirmed to ABC News. They were identified by the college’s president as Campus Police Officer John Painter and Campus Safety Officer J.J. Jefferson.
“Today our campus community experienced unspeakable tragedy. Two members of the Bridgewater College family were senselessly and violently taken from us,” Bridgewater College President David Bushman said in a statement.
“This is a sad and dark day for Bridgewater College. I know we all have so many questions and not many answers,” he said.
The officers were known as the “dynamic duo” and were close friends, Bushman said. Painter was Jefferson’s best man in his wedding this year, he said.
Earlier Report:
BRIDGEWATER, Va. – A law enforcement officer was shot and wounded at a Virginia college Tuesday after an “active shooter” was reported on campus, according to reports.
Bridgewater College informed students and faculty to “shelter in place” around 1:25 p.m. while emphasizing on Twitter, “This is not a test.”
At least one officer was wounded during the shooting at the private liberal arts school located about an hour northwest of Charlottesville, ABC News reported, citing law enforcement sources.
“The Harrisonburg Police Department is currently assisting with an active law enforcement scene in the town of Bridgewater. Please do not travel to Bridgewater at this time until the situation comes to a close. To any of our followers living or working in Bridgewater, please shelter in place,” wrote the city of Harrisonburg, the New York Post reported.
About 40 minutes after the incident was reported on the college’s Twitter account, the school confirmed with the student body that a suspect had been taken into custody. Nevertheless, the college asked its’ students to remain in place as the “situation is still ongoing.”
“For additional safety purposes, law enforcement officials will be moving through buildings. Do not be alarmed. listen to officers’ instructions,” the school wrote about 20 minutes later.
Further details of the shooting remain unclear and the condition of the officer was not immediately known.
According to the Post, an image taken by the local Daily News-Record showed 10 officers directing their firearms at one point at a shirtless man face-down on the ground. It wasn’t clear if the man was a suspect in the shooting.
“The Shelter in Place order for the Town of Bridgewater in the area of Bridgewater College has been lifted. Bridgewater College is still asking those on campus to shelter in place,” the city of Harrisonburg wrote on Facebook to its residents.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day a shooting occurred at a high school in Richfield, Minn., Law Officer reported. One student was killed and a second is listed in critical condition.
