(NewsNation Now) — Two campus police officers who were shot at Bridgewater College in Virginia on Tuesday have died, according to an email the university sent its students and staff.
NewsNation affiliate WRIC obtained the email, which identifies the victims as John Painter, a campus police officer, and J.J. Jefferson, a campus safety officer. The letter said the two were close friends, and Jefferson was Painter’s best man in his wedding.
Police say they arrested Alexander Wyatt Campbell, 27. He’s been charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of first-degree murder, as well as a weapons charge, police announced at a news conference. No motive was given.
“The sadness is palpable. Words are not adequate, not nearly so, to express the grief, sadness, fear and —justifiably — the anger we all feel,” Bridgewater President David Bushman wrote in the letter.
Several police agencies responded to the private liberal arts college campus about 1:20 p.m. following reports of an active shooter. Initial reports were that two officers had been shot and the armed suspect had fled, the school said in an official statement Tuesday afternoon. State and local law enforcement conducted a massive search and the male suspected shooter was taken into custody at 1:55 p.m.
The situation remains under investigation. The college tweeted just after 4:30 p.m. that the situation was “all clear” and more information would be communicated via campus email.
School officials said earlier in the afternoon that law enforcement was moving through the buildings for additional security purposes, and that people should follow officers’ instructions.
Bridgewater began the school year with an enrollment of about 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students, according to its website.
The security company SafeAtLast previously named the college the safest college in Virginia and among the top 25 safest institutions in the U.S., according to a news release on the school’s website.
READ ALSO: Around the same time as the shooting in Virginia, a shooting occurred near a school in Richfield, Minnesota. Read the latest developments from that here.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.