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The school went into lockdown at 1:24 p.m., when Bridgewater College officials sent out a tweet warning students and faculty of a shooter on campus.
Shortly afterward two officers were shot and the armed suspect had fled the scene shortly after, according to the school.
State & local law enforcement immediately responded and initiated a massive search operation taking the suspect into custody by 1:55 p.m., school officials said on Tuesday.
The officers who were shot were responding to the reports of a suspicious man on campus spotted around 1:20 p.m., Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
After that brief interaction, the man opened fire on the officers– both succumbed to their wounds at the scene, according to Geller.
The two officers were later identified as campus police officer John Painter and campus safety officer J.J. Jefferson, according to a statement from school president David W. Bushman.
The pair were a “the dynamic duo,” and Painter was the best man at Jefferson’s wedding this year, Bushman wrote in his statement.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ordered flags across the state be flown at half-staff Wednesday to honor the officers.
The suspect has been identified as Alexander Wyatt Campbell, 27, of Ashland, Virginia, according to officials at the press conference.
In a manner that remains unclear, Campbell received a gunshot wound that was not life threatening and he was flown to a local hospital, according to Geller.
Campbell was charged with two counts of capital murder, one count of first degree murder, and one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, according to a Virginia State Police news release.
He is being held in Rockingham County prison without bond, according to state police.
Bridgewater College is a private liberal arts college located about 125 miles northwest of Richmond and the school had approximately 1,500 full-time students enrolled as of fall 2021, according to its website.
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