(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 college officers mentioned.
The lockdown started within the early afternoon when Bridgewater School officers despatched out a tweet in warning college students and school 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 out 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.
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No different accidents have been reported.
At a information convention Tuesday night time, Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller mentioned that the taking pictures occurred shortly after the campus officers responded to stories of a suspicious man on campus round 1:20 p.m. She mentioned that after a short interplay, the person opened hearth 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 obtained he wound in an change 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 response to a Virginia State Police information launch.
His final identified tackle was in Ashland, Virginia.
Geller mentioned she didn’t know if Campbell had a lawyer who may converse on his behalf.
A press release 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 generally known as “the dynamic duo,” the assertion famous that Painter was the most effective man at Jefferson’s marriage ceremony this 12 months.
“Two members of the Bridgewater School household have been senselessly and violently taken from us. The unhappiness is palpable. Phrases aren’t satisfactory, not practically so, to precise the grief, unhappiness, concern 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 School in the present day … The First Woman and I ask Virginians to maintain their household, buddies, and the Bridgewater neighborhood in your ideas and prayers throughout this troublesome time,” he mentioned in an announcement.
Bridgewater School is a personal liberal arts faculty positioned 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 response to its web site.
