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Campus-wide alert lifted at Virginia Tech

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Published : Aug. 5, 2011 - 11:22

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BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP) -- Virginia Tech was locked down Thursday when three children attending a summer camp said they saw a man holding what looked like a gun on the campus where a 2007 massacre left 33 people dead.

The university issued an alert on its website at 9:37 a.m. local time. Thursday telling students and employees to stay inside and lock their doors. University spokesman Larry Hincker said during a news conference later in the morning that the campus alert remained in effect and that people should stay indoors until further notice.

The university posted the alert on its website and its official Twitter account. The Roanoke Times also reported that the university sounded its emergency sirens and issued an emergency alert by phone and email.

The campus-wide alert was later lifted and students and staff were told to resume their normal activities, according to an email sent at 2:42 p.m. The email said there would be a large police presence on campus throughout the day.

The school posted an update on its website around 1 p.m., saying authorities were combing through buildings on campus. Classes were canceled for the day, and the school said searching the buildings would be a long process. A composite sketch was posted on the school's website. People on campus were told to remain indoors.

The children told police they saw the man quickly walking toward the volleyball courts, carrying what might have been a handgun covered by some type of cloth. State and local police swarmed the area but said they could not find a gunman matching their description.

An alert on the school's website said the gunman was reported near Dietrick Hall, a three-story dining facility steps away from the dorm where the first shootings took place in the 2007 rampage. A student from South Korea, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 30 more students and faculty and himself. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

 

<한글 기사>

버지니아 공대 제 2의 총기난사 사건?

경찰출동 `혐의자 미발견'..경보시스템 적시작동

지난 2007년 한국계 학생 조승희의  총기난 사 사건을 겪은 미국 버지니아 공과대학(버지니아텍) 구내에 4일 총기소지자가 출현 했다는 신고가 접수돼 캠프스가 폐쇄되고 경찰이 출동해 수색에 나섰다.

학교 당국은 이날 오전 9시37분 웹사이트를 통해 교내에 있는 교직원과  학생들 은 문을 잠그고 바깥으로 나오지 말라는 경보를 내리고 외부인들의 학교 출입을  차 단했다.

학교 측에 따르면 교내 여름 캠프에 참여중인 10대 학생 3명이 "권총으로  보이 는 물건을 소지한 180㎝ 키의 갈색머리 백인 남성이 교내 식당 근처 홀을  돌아다니 는 것을 보았다"고 신고했다.

이 백인 남성은 옷가지 따위로 권총으로 보이는 물건을 가리고 있었다고 한다.

경찰은 신고된 인상착의를 지닌 백인을 찾고 있으나 아직 발견하지는 못한  상태 라고 현지 언론은 전했다.

언론들은 이날 대학 당국이 유사시 경보시스템을 제대로 작동시켰다고 보도했다 .

지난 2007년 교내 총기난사 사건 당시에는 사건 당일 학생 2명에게 첫 총격이 가해지고도 2시간이 지나서야 이메일로 학생과 직원들에게 경보가 발령돼 교육부가 학교 측에 5만5천달러의 벌금을 부과했었다.

당시 이 벌금액수는 교내 범죄에 대한 적시 경보를 요구하는 법을 위반한  버지니아텍에 연방 당국이 부과할 수 있는 최고액수였다. (연합뉴스)