Ballistics tests match weapon used to kill officer to second death on campus
As the investigation of the fatal shooting of a Virginia Tech police officer continues, university spokesman Larry Hincker said Friday that the shooter was not a student, the Associated Press reports.
Officer Deriek W. Crouse was shot dead in his parked cruiser Thursday, causing officials to lock down the university while police and SWAT teams searched for the shooter. Police announced Friday that ballistics tests confirmed that the weapon used to kill Crouse was also used to shoot a second man found dead on campus.
In-car video from the officer’s cruiser shows a male suspect with a handgun at Crouse’s car at the time of the shooting. Authorities have no identified the gun and say they don’t know what motivated the killing or whether there was a link between the shooter and Crouse, according to the Associated Press.
Crouse was an Army veteran and married father of five. He joined the campus police force in October 2007.
Thursday’s shootings has brought back memories to the school of its 2007 shootings, in which a gunman left 33 people dead and 25 wounded. It was one of the worst shootings in U.S. history.
Thursday’s shootings occurred the same day Virginia Tech officials were in Washington fighting a federal government fine over their handling of the 2007 massacre.
About 150 students gathered silently for a candlelight vigil on a field facing the memorial for 2007 victims, the Associated Press reports. An official vigil is planned for Friday night.
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