FAIRFAX, Virginia – “Oh no, not again.”
This was the first reaction of many Virginia Tech students when they first heard reports that shooting had broken out in their campus on Thursday that left two people killed.
The incident brought back memories of the shooting rampage by South Korean student Seung-hui Cho who killed over 30 people before turning the gun on himself in April 2007.
It was the deadliest attack by a single gunman in US history.
Filipino-American Isabella Lacsamana, a freshman at Virginia Tech, said she was in her dorm room when she heard gunshots ring out.
Lacsamana said she received numerous alerts from university officials to stay indoors during the incident.
“I flashed back to when I saw the news of the shooting the first time,” she said.
“The first time I heard it was happening, I was just hoping it wasn’t happening again.”
About 100 students of Filipino parentage are enrolled in any given year at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, about 260 miles west of Washington.
VTech, as the school is more commonly known, has a student population of about 26,000 and is set in a 2,600-acre campus. It is a highly rated business and engineering school with more than 100 buildings.
Officials said a gunman shot down a police officer during a routine traffic stop in the university grounds at around noon.
The university sent out alerts of the shooting at 12:37 and 12:47 p.m. asking students to remain on lockdown.
The gunman, said to be a white male wearing gray pants and a maroon hoodie, fled on foot and was later found dead in a parking lot.
It was not immediately known if the police shot him or he killed himself.
A state police spokesman said they were looking at the possibility that the suspect was linked to an armed robbery earlier in the day in the nearby town of Radford, Virginia.
“I am deeply saddened by today’s news of another tragedy affecting the Virginia Tech community,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a statement.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those impacted by these shootings.”