A police officer was shot and killed at Virginia Tech University on Thursday, putting the site… A police officer was shot and killed at Virginia Tech University on Thursday, putting the site of the worst mass murder of college students in the U.S. into lockdown.

A campus-wide security alert system, VT alerts, notified students and faculty of the shooting, advising them to stay indoors and remain secure. According to Virginia Tech’s website, “Shortly after noon [Thursday], a Virginia Tech police officer stopped a vehicle during a routine traffic stop in the Coliseum parking lot near McComas Hall. During the traffic stop, the officer was shot and killed.”

“Our hearts are broken again for our friend and police officer,” Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said at a Thursday news conference.

Local and state police helped investigate the shooting, and one officer discovered a suspicious person dead near where the weapon was discovered. Police will not say whether the second body was that of the shooter, but Steger did say at the conference that it is believed the shooter killed himself.

At 4:30 p.m., students and faculty were notified that there was no longer an active threat, the lockdown was lifted, and they could “resume normal activities.”

If Pitt’s campus ever becomes the center of an emergency, Pitt spokesman John Fedele said the University has a number of measures in place to keep students safe.

Like the VT alerts, Pitt also has an Emergency Notification System that immediately alerts subscribed students through text, voice and email messages in the event of an emergency. Students can sign up for the alerts through their Pitt portal.

Fedele said the University can electronically lock 80 percent of its buildings from the Communications Center at Pitt’s Public Safety Building on Forbes Avenue. Many of Pitt’s buildings also have internal public address systems that allow for official communication to people inside the buildings if an emergency, such as a bomb threat, is restricted to one location.

The Pitt Police has a Special Emergency Response Team trained to respond to life-threatening events and “has the ability to breach the doors of a building if they are blocked by an actor,” Fedele said.

Nearly 300 electronic surveillance cameras and 500 emergency phones positioned across campus are monitored by an officer 24 hours a day.

The Pitt Police website, www.police.pitt.edu, also lays out what will happen in the case of an “active threat” incident. The site recommends that students stay in a secure room while the police act to neutralize the threat and evacuate victims.

Virginia Tech has an advanced security alert system, established following the 2007 shooting. During that incident,

Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting rampage that resulted in the deaths of 32 people before he killed himself.

It took two hours from the discovery of the first two victims before the university sent out its first email alert. Thirty more deaths followed in an academic building.

Several of Virginia Tech’s officials were off-campus Thursday in Washington, D.C., to appeal a $55,000 fine connected to the 2007 shooting. The Department of Education said the school violated the Clery Act by waiting more than two hours before alerting students with an email that students were shot. The Clery Act requires universities to provide warnings in a timely manner.

In response to the massacre, the university overhauled its security measures, expanding them to utilize multiple forms of emergency notifications and social media.

On Thursday, students and faculty were notified within minutes of the shooting, which happened a little before 12:30 p.m. The security alert system sent out emails, text messages, alarms and alerts via electronic message boards in classrooms on campus by 12:36 p.m.

Classes for the semester ended on Wednesday. Thursday was a reading day for students to prepare for finals. Exams for Friday have been postponed.

The first alert announced the shooting, and the second alert came 10 minutes later with a description of the suspect: “white male, gray sweat pants, gray hat w/ neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack.”

Conor McKenna, a junior at Virginia Tech, was studying chemistry in Davidson Hall when he heard alarms sound.

He said he didn’t think much of it because the alarms, located on the tops of the buildings rather than inside, are not deafening. But about 20 seconds later, a man came in and told the seven students that a cop had been shot. He said the gunman was around the Cassell Coliseum, Tech’s basketball and volleyball stadium.

“He said to stay inside and that the school was on lockdown and to just stay where we are,” McKenna said.

McKenna later checked his phone and his email and said he received the first VT alert at 12:36 p.m.

“Gun shots reported — Coliseum Parking lot. Stay inside. Secure doors. Emergency personnel responding. Call 911 for help,” the alert read.

McKenna said the alerts were the only way he knew what was going on. But the students in the room did not panic after hearing the news.

“We all just went back to our work,” he said. Outside the window, six SWAT and police cars patrolled the parking lot.

Steger said during the news conference he was pleased with how the students and faculty remained inside as police tried to secure the campus.