Virginia Tech gun scare

Unresolved questions linger, after a sighting of a man possibly carrying a gun by three teenage girls, led to a massive, precautionary reaction by Virginia Tech and law enforcement on Thursday.

The girls were at a camp on campus being run by Higher Achievement out of Washington D.C. Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said the teens claimed to have seen a man possibly carrying a handgun, covered with a cloth or some type of covering, near Dietrick Dining Hall and New Residence Hall East around 9:00 a.m. The children told an adult with their group, who called police at 9:09 a.m.

About half-an-hour later, Virginia Tech decided to send out an alert through its VT Alerts system.  That alert posted on Virginia Tech's website at 9:36 a.m., and asked the thousands of people on campus to stay inside and "secure their doors," but did not specifically say a lockdown was in effect. The alert included the girls' sighting report.

Larry Hincker, vice-president for university relations, said during a morning news conference that the "new-era" post-April 16th tragedy helped Tech's policy team decide to send out the alert sooner, rather than taking additional time to evaluate the girls' claims.

"It's really simply the world we live in today. People expect and want to know exactly what's happening. And so you really need need to communicate first, and investigate later, and that's what we did," Hincker said.

Chief Flinchum said during a news conference later in the day, that an officer interviewed the girls, and believed their information to be credible.

"The information they gave was very detailed concerning the description of what they saw, and the officers believed them, and so we deemed it credible at that point," Chief Flinchum said.

Flinchum added that the girls did not describe any behavior they felt was threatening by the man, and did not see the man pointing the supposed weapon at a person.

After the alert, Virginia Tech Police officers, as well as other officers from Blacksburg Police, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, Christiansburg Police, State Police, and FBI agents converged on campus. They conducted a massive search of every main building, more than 150 in total. No other sightings were ever reported.

A little after 10:30 a.m., Tech released this description of the man seen by the three teens:

• White
• 6 ft. tall
• Light brown hair
• Wearing blue and white vertical striped shirt
• Gray shorts
• Brown sandals
• No facial hair or glasses

Around 12:50 p.m., Tech released a composite sketch of the man that the three campers claimed to have seen.

At 1:00 p.m., Tech cancelled classes on the Blacksburg campus for the rest of the day, asked students not to come to campus for the rest of the day, and asked anyone who thought they may have been the man spotted to call Tech Police.

At 2:47 p.m., Tech lifted the alert, and allowed normal campus activity to resume. However, the university kept classes cancelled for the rest of Thursday. Tech also told the university community to expect a large police presence on campus for the remainder of Thursday.

At an afternoon news conference, Chief Flinchum described the mindset following the initial call about the gun scare, and follow-up interview of the girls.

"Based on the information provided and lacking further information, we couldn't rule out that this wasn't credible. Therefore, we felt like there was no other option than to issue a campus alert and ask our people to remain secured indoors," Flinchum said. "We have kept the campus on alert since then through an abundance of caution. We believe that this was a most prudent course of action."

Flinchum added that officers interviewed several people similar to the person described by the three witnesses, but none of them turned out to be the person they described.  No other witnesses saw what the girls claimed to have seen, Flinchum said.

Hincker said classes will resume as scheduled Friday morning.

Higher Achievement CEO Richard Tagle told WSLS's Ashley Roberts that a group of children, ages nine to 14, were are the camp, and that Thursday was the final day for the camp. As of 2:30 p.m., the children were on their way back to Washington D.C. Tagle added that throughout the entire situation, the organization's top priority was the safety of everyone.

Hokies head football coach Frank Beamer says he thought the university handled the situation well.  Thursday was the start of Summer practice, and was delayed by the plice search.

Expected starting quartback, and Brookville High School graduate, Logan Thomas said most of the team was lifting weights when the alert was sent out, and most of the players just hung around the weight roomand locker room, according to the Associated Press.

State and Congressional leaders said they were in contact with law enforcement, and monitored the situation.

The Associated Press reported that Governor Bob McDonnell was in contact with law enforcement, while he attended meetings of the Republican Governors Association in Wisconsin. Gov. McDonnell made sure all state resources are available to Virginia Tech Police, the AP reported.

9th District Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-Salem), who's district includes Virginia Tech, e-mailed WSLS this statement: "I am monitoring the situation at Virginia Tech. Like everyone on campus and the entire Hokie Nation, I await further details and pray that this campus alert concludes uneventfully."

The AP quoted Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Marla Decker as saying she was glad the children reported what they saw. "We'd rather have a report come to us, investigate it and later in the day say there was nothing to it," the AP quote Decker as saying.