BLACKSBURG, Va. –  A police officer was shot at Virginia Tech on Thursday morning and campus officials warned everyone to seek shelter while an armed suspect was at large.

The campus newspaper and a local television station reported the officer was dead.

A possible second victim was reported at a campus parking lot, CBS television station WDBJ reported.

“We don’t know if the suspect fled or the extent of the injuries to the suspect or to the officer,” NBC News’ Pete Williams told msnbc cable TV earlier.

“This was a traffic stop on campus,” Williams said. “It was not someone walking around firing shots.”

A Virginia Tech alert described the suspected shooter as a white male wearing gray sweat pants, a gray hat with a neon green brim and a maroon hoodie, and carrying a backpack.

A Virginia Tech alert posted on the school’s website said the suspect was last seen walking toward McComas Hall, which is the main gym on campus, about two blocks from Lane Stadium.

As scene in the picture on the right, this has become a matter being handled federally.  The FBI and DEA have come to assist in the search for the gunman.  In this picture, police and DEA are searching a building known as Torg Bridge.

In the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, 33 people, including the mentally ill gunman, were killed on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. The massacre in a classroom building began at 9:40 a.m. when Seung-Hui Cho chained the doors and killed dozens before committing suicide.

Virginia Tech is on lockdown, many conflicting reports about where suspect may be

— Collegiate Times (@CollegiateTimes) December8, 2011

As suggested by Virginia Tech, any student on campus please stay indoors and monitor the school website for updates on the situation.  Also, for minute by minute updates via Twitter, see the campus newspapers Twitter: http://twitter.com/collegiatetimes

Source: Michael Morrison

The suspect is believed to be dead.

A news release from the school says the police officer had pulled someone over in what was a routine traffic stop Thursday. The officer was shot and killed during the traffic stop.

Witnesses told police the shooter ran toward a parking lot on campus. A second person was found dead in that parking lot.

Virginia State Police will be taking over the investigation, according to the news release.

The shooting comes the same day as Virginia Tech is appealing a $55,000 fine by the Education Department in connection with the university’s response to the 2007 rampage.