New York: Five persons were wounded in an incident of mass shooting involving multiple suspects at Virginia State University in the early hours of Saturday (Eastern Daylight Time, US).
The incident prompted authorities to lock down the campus for more than seven hours.
The shooting took place near the university’s Quad Annexes, where campus police and Chesterfield County officers discovered five people with gunshot wounds outside dormitories, AP reported.
Of the five injured persons transported to hospitals, one is in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. The others sustained non-life-threatening injuries, county police said.
The university said in a statement that the shooting involved “multiple suspects,” and urged people to avoid the immediate area.
“A significant law enforcement presence remains on campus as the investigation into this morning’s shooting continues,” the university said after the lockdown was lifted.
The shooting took place just before the start of the academic year at Virginia State University.
According to the university’s website, residence halls opened for students a week ago, and classes are set to begin on Monday. Many incoming students had just completed the university’s ‘New Trojans Experience’.
One of the most high-profile shooting attacks in recent years took place at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, also known as Virginia Tech, in 2007 when a gunman killed 32 people and wounded 17 others.