A suspect was caught after a widespread search at the college, about 40 miles from Charlottesville, the authorities said.
A gunman fatally shot a police officer and a campus safety officer at Bridgewater College in Virginia on Tuesday afternoon, the authorities said.
The assailant, who fled after the 1:20 p.m. shooting, was captured at 1:55 p.m. after a “massive search operation” involving local, state and federal law enforcement officials, the college said in a statement.
Pictures from the scene show him being detained near a riverbank.
In an email sent at 5:04 p.m. to the students and faculty, David Bushman, the president of the college, said that the two officers had been killed.
He identified the victims as John Painter, the police officer, and J.J. Jefferson, the campus safety officer. They were often referred to as the “dynamic duo,” Mr. Bushman said. “John was J.J.’s best man in his wedding this year,” he added.
“This is a sad and dark day for Bridgewater College,” Mr. Bushman said. “I know we all have so many questions and not many answers. One thing I do know, though, is that we will rally around one another and support each other as we move forward from this day.”
The college, which is around 40 miles northwest of Charlottesville, asked those on campus to shelter in place until it issued an all-clear notification at 4:33 p.m.
A college spokeswoman, the college’s Campus Police and Safety Department and the nearby Harrisonburg Police Department referred questions to the Virginia State Police, which did not respond to emails or phone calls on Tuesday evening.
A video posted on Facebook showed a man walking backward along the riverbank with his hands in the air as officers aimed guns and shouted at him. He eventually laid on his stomach and was surrounded by the officers.
Alex Hulleman, a student at the college, told The Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va., that he was in class in the school’s Flory Hall on Tuesday afternoon, when he suddenly heard “a bunch of shots.”
“We all hit the deck,” Mr. Hulleman told the newspaper, adding that a couple of people in his class barricaded the door. “It all happened kind of fast.”
After waiting for a while, Mr. Hulleman said, he and those in his class looked out the window, and they could see that two officers were down.
“Eventually, they covered their bodies with sheets,” he said.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said on Twitter on Tuesday night that he was “incredibly saddened” by the shooting, adding, “Gun violence is a tragic epidemic.”
As of the fall 2021 semester, about 1,500 full-time undergraduate and graduate students were enrolled at Bridgewater, according to the school.
