1 dead, 2 injured in shooting at Virginia’s Old Dominion University, police say

A gunman and one victim are dead and two other victims are hurt after a shooting at Old Dominion University on Thursday morning, the Virginia university’s police said.

At a news conference on Thursday, Old Dominion University (ODU) Police Chief Garrett Shelton confirmed that one of the three victims injured has died. He said authorities learned that there was a third victim who brought themselves to a hospital. The two remaining victims appear to be in stable conditions, Shelton said.

Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Delongchamp, public information officer for the US Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, told Associated Press that the two wounded people are members of the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at ODU.

“We will continue to coordinate with the university and law enforcement agencies as they investigate the incident,” Delongchamp said in a brief telephone interview. “There’s still a lot more stuff we have to work out.”

Within about an hour of the shooting, ODU declared that there was no longer a threat on the campus.

The public university in Norfolk cancelled classes and suspended all operations on its main campus until Friday and urged people to avoid the area in and around Constant Hall while emergency officials continued to work. Counselling and food services will remain available.

In a message to the university community, ODU President Brian Hemphill said the institution faced a tragedy on campus. He expressed gratefulness for the swift emergency response and offered thoughts and prayers to those affected.