UPDATE: Tech says gunfire-like noises were from construction site

Media General News Service
Published: November 13, 2008

Updated 3:30 p.m.

Police have finished searching a Virginia Tech residence hall where gunfire was reported this afternoon, and they now believe that the sounds came from equipment at a nearby construction site.

“Police have found evidence of cartridges from power actuated nailers used on construction sites. Police theorize that someone mechanically exploded the construction shells possibly by slamming the dumpster lid,“ the university said on its Web site at 2:55 p.m.

Updated 2:35 p.m.

Virginia Tech officials now say that reports of shots fired inside a residence hall were not gunfire.

Pritchard Hall was shut down for about a half hour after two people reported hearing what sounded like gunfire at about 1 p.m. An e-mail alert was sent at 1:40 to the campus community that said, “Police are investigating reported sounds of gunshots in Pritchard Hall. Building is secured. No access in or out. Police searching room by room.“

The residence hall is directly across the street from a construction site, which university officials said could be the source of the sounds.

At 2:21, the university posted an update on its Web site saying the reports were a false alarm, but that police were still investigating.

Pritchard Hall, a residence hall that opened in 1967 in the Prairie Community along Washington Street, is home to 1,000 residents and is billed as the largest all-male dorm on the East Coast.

Reports of gunfire are especially sensitive on the Virginia Tech campus where student gunman Seung-Hui Cho took 32 lives on April 16, 2007, before taking his own life.

Virginia Tech police and Blacksburg police have sent out a campus alert about gunshot sounds being reported in Pritchard Hall, a residence hall.

The building was locked down after two people reported hearing what sounded like gunfire at about 1 p.m. An e-mail alert was sent at 1:40 to the campus community.

Police are searching the building. There has been no confirmation of a shooting.

The residence hall is directly across the street from a construction site, which university officials said could be the source of the sounds.

Pritchard Hall, a residence hall that opened in 1967 in the Prairie Community along Washington Street, is home to 1,000 residents and is billed as the largest all-male dorm on the East Coast.

The e-mail alert sent to students at 1:40 said: “Police are investigating reported sounds of gunshots in Pritchard Hall. Building is secured. No access in or out. Police searching room by room.“

Reports of gunfire are especially sensitive on the Virginia Tech campus where student gunman Seung-Hui Cho took 32 lives on April 16, 2007, before taking his own life.