BREAKING: Second Virginia Tech Victim May Have Been Shooter

Reports claim that the second shooting victim at Virginia Tech may have in fact been the gunman, as of 4:15 p.m.

“Law enforcement officials now believe the second shooting victim at Virginia Tech was the man who shot and killed the campus police officer,” an NBC Washington report said.

However, during a press conference, a Virginia state police officer declined to comment on whether the second victim was also the shooter.

The Virginia Tech website stated, “A weapon has been recovered at the location of the second individual,” at 4:19 p.m.  The second victim was found deceased in a student parking lot on campus earlier this afternoon.

Two people, including a police officer, were shot and killed at Virginia Tech at approximately 12:15 p.m. after a routine traffic stop, officials said.  The shooter was still thought to be at large at 3:09 p.m.

According to a Virginia state police officer during a press conference, the first victim was not shot by the individual stopped at the traffic stop, but by a third party.

At 3:50 p.m., The Collegiate Times, the student newspaper for Virginia Tech, reported that there is no new information on the suspect and that police were conducting searches.

Although many reports claimed that Radford University, approximately 15 miles south of Virginia Tech, was on lockdown as well, the official university Twitter account said, “There has been no decision to place the university on lock down at this time. Continue to avoid the area of Virginia Tech/Blacksburg.”

The Virginia Tech campus was put on lockdown immediately following the shootings.

In a press conference this afternoon, Mark Owczarski, Virginia Tech spokesperson, said, “If there is any information, once it’s confirmed, we’ll get it out there.”

There is another press conference scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

The second victim was unofficially identified as a student on the WDBJ website, a local news affiliate in the Blacksburg area.  The victim was shot at the Cage, a student parking lot on campus.  Both the identity of the police officer and of the second victim are unknown at this time.

Virginia Tech sent out several text messages warning students about the shootings beginning at 12:39 p.m., advising them to “stay where they are and secure in place.”

This is the first shooting at Virginia Tech since April 2007, when 33 people were killed on the Blacksburg campus.

Today, many Virginia Tech officials were in Washington, D.C., to appeal the fine that federal officials gave them for violation of the Clery Act during the 2007 shootings, Associated Press reports state.

(AP Photo/The Roanoke Times, Matt Gentry)