The Virginia Tech police officer who was killed on campus during a traffic stop was identified as four-year member of the force who was married and had five children and stepchildren.

The Virginia Tech News website said Deriek W. Crouse, 39, of Christiansburg, was survived by his wife, five children and step-children, and his mother and brother. Funeral arrangements were pending.

AP

Police Officer Deriek Crouse

The site said Crouse joined the campus Police Department on Oct. 27, 2007, and served in the patrol division. He had been a member of the force's Emergency Response Team since February, and in 2008 he received an award for his commitment to the department's efforts against driving under the influence.

He was an Army veteran who had worked at the New River Valley Jail and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department.

The gunman thought to have killed Crouse was found dead on campus with a gunshot wound.

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Montgomery County schools, which were under lockdown most of the day, is now sending students home in phases "following all reasonable safety precautions.

NBC station WSLS-TV of Roanoke reports parents are being allowed to pick up their children now.

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Staffers, students under lockdown at Virginia Tech: Shooting brings back '4/16'

The law enforcement response to the shootings at Virginia Tech is enormous. Here's a breakdown of who's on the scene looking for a white male wearing gray sweatpants, a neon cap and a hoodie and carrying a grey backpack, as compiled by msnbc.com:

• Virginia State Police, who are in charge of the investigation
• Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• FBI agents
• Campus police
• Roanoke police tactical units
• Montgomery County police tactical units 
• Blacksburg police
• Christiansburg police
• Pulaski County sheriff's K9 unit

Other nearby agencies say they are on standby in case they are needed.

Staffers, students under lockdown at Virginia Tech: Shooting brings back '4/16'

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BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Memories of a massacre haunted Virginia Tech students and faculty Thursday after two people were shot dead on campus.

While campus officials did their best to make the school community feel safe while police pursued the shooting suspect, many people behind locked doors could not escape memories of April 16, 2007, when a mentally deranged student killed 32 others before committing suicide.

On Thursday, the campus went on alert shortly after noon when a campus officer was shot by a person who walked up to the scene of a traffic stop. A second body was found about a quarter-mile away. Authorities told NBC's Pete Williams that they believed the second victim was the man who shot the campus officer, and the alert was lifted later in the day.

"My feeling is a repeat of '4/16,'" a Sociology Department staffer who identified herself only as Brenda told msnbc.com during the lockdown. She was in McBride Hall with about 75 others.

"I feel secure and my building is totally locked, but the emotion is like 'here we go again,'" she said.

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She said those around her who were on campus in 2007 had similar feelings. Many students on campus now were not there in 2007 but know of the massacre, she said.

Although they felt safe, Brenda said, they weren’t sure what was really happening during the incident because they had no television or radio inside.

"The only news I have is what Virginia Tech sends via alerts, and what people are posting on Twitter, and I don’t know whether Twitter is accurate."

About 200 people were locked down inside the campus library and were safe, a circulation staff member told msnbc.com.

“People are attendant to noise and to news reports,” said the staff member, who did not want to be identified. “There’s no panic.”

She said that number of people in the library was typical for a Thursday afternoon.

At Squires Student Center, the mood was calm among the 400 people locked inside, said Matthew Banfield, undergraduate student representative on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

“University staff is with us, maintaining an atmosphere of peace and a level of comfort despite what’s going on," Banfield said.

Mario Ichaso, a Virginia Tech student, told NBC television station WSLS that few students were outside at the time of the shooting.

"Most people in the dorms were studying for finals," he said. Finals were to start on Friday, but campus officials canceled them for the day.

Virginia Tech communication studies Professor Bob Benton told WSLS that as soon the shooting alert went out faculty knew the drill and led students to safety in less than three minutes.

Still, they could not avoid “the scariness.”

“I just have to confess,” he said. “It's a burst of terror and then just pure sadness.”

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• Thais divided by anti-free speech crackdown
• Former prisoners: Blagojevich faces rude awakening
• Now what, as Senate blocks consumer nominee?
• 'May die 2day,' girl Facebooks before mom kills her

Virginia Tech says there have been no new reports of criminal activity but that the shooter is still at large. However, alerts remain "active," and everyone on campus should stay put.

All exams scheduled for Friday have been canceled, the college says.

College officials have scheduled a news conference for 4:30 p.m. ET.

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All Montgomery County schools remain on lockdown, Superintendent Brenda Black says. 

In an on-air interview with NBC station WSLS of Roanoke, Va., Blackburn said all students are safe in their classrooms and that no one except emergency personnel are being allowed into the schools.

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Shortly after noon Thursday, a Virginia Tech campus police officer stopped a vehicle and was shot dead. Witnesses said the shooting suspect took off toward a parking lot, where a second person was found dead. 

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The Collegiate Times reports that a SWAT team has left after searching the Squires Student Center, where police converged earlier and shepherded students into "secure locations." No suspicious persons were found, it says.

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Virginia Tech says in a new statement that reports of other gunshots on campus are not true:

"Numerous reports have been made recently of sounds identified as gunshots and suspicious activity on campus. These recent reports have been investigated and are unfounded. The suspect's status remains unknown."

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All Montgomery County schools are on lockdown as the shooting investigation continues, according to The Burgs, a local publication of The Roanoke Times.