This photograph combo of photos offered by Bridgewater Faculty exhibits campus security Officer J.J Jefferson, left, and campus police Officer John Painter. (Matthew Cosner/Courtesy of Bridgewater Faculty by way of AP)
BRIDGEWATER, VA. --
A gunman shot and killed two campus officers at a personal faculty Tuesday, prompting a protracted campus lockdown and search earlier than the suspect was apprehended, state police and faculty officers mentioned.
The lockdown started within the early afternoon when Bridgewater Faculty officers despatched out a tweet in warning college students and college a few shooter on campus.
The school despatched out a follow-up tweet about 2 p.m. saying police had apprehended a suspect after looking the campus however that college students ought to proceed sheltering in place.
A information photographer captured a picture of the obvious suspect being arrested, laying face-down on the bottom as greater than a half-dozen regulation enforcement officers approached with weapons drawn. The school gave the all-clear about 4:30 p.m.
No different accidents had been reported.
At a information convention Tuesday evening, Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller mentioned that the taking pictures occurred shortly after the campus officers responded to experiences of a suspicious man on campus round 1:20 p.m. She mentioned that after a short interplay, the person opened fireplace on the officers, shot them and fled on foot. The 2 officers succumbed to their wounds on the scene.
Officers from state and native regulation enforcement companies then joined the search and located the suspect off campus. He waded right into a river and was taken into custody on an island within the river., they mentioned.
The suspect, 27-year-old Alexander Wyatt Campbell, was handled for a gunshot wound that wasn't life threatening. Geller mentioned that it wasn't clear if he acquired he wound in an trade with police or if it was self-inflicted, and he was given remedy for it.
Campbell was being held with out bond on two counts of capital homicide, one rely of first diploma homicide, and one rely of use of a firearm within the fee of a felony, in keeping with a Virginia State Police information launch.
His final recognized handle was in Ashland, Virginia.
Geller mentioned she did not know if Campbell had a lawyer who might communicate on his behalf.
An announcement from faculty president David W. Bushman recognized the 2 officers as campus police officer John Painter and campus security officer J.J. Jefferson. He mentioned that the campus was mourning the lack of the well-known and well-loved officers. Saying the pair was referred to as “the dynamic duo,” the assertion famous that Painter was one of the best man at Jefferson's wedding ceremony this 12 months.
“Two members of the Bridgewater Faculty household had been senselessly and violently taken from us. The unhappiness is palpable. Phrases usually are not satisfactory, not practically so, to precise the grief, unhappiness, worry and - justifiably - the anger all of us really feel,” Bushman added.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ordered flags throughout the state be flown at half-staff Wednesday to honor the officers.
“My coronary heart is damaged tonight by the tragic lack of two officers at Bridgewater Faculty right this moment ... The First Girl and I ask Virginians to maintain their household, mates, and the Bridgewater group in your ideas and prayers throughout this troublesome time,” he mentioned in a press release.
Bridgewater Faculty is a personal liberal arts faculty situated about 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of Richmond. Traditionally affiliated with the Church of the Brethren, the college had an enrollment of about 1,500 full-time college students within the fall of 2021, in keeping with its web site.
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