Va. community college student held in campus shooting

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Police: Student opens fire at Northern Va. Community College

A 20-year-old student opened fire in a community college classroom in Woodbridge, Va., but did not hit anyone and was arrested in a hallway, police said Tuesday.

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She said the man with the gun appeared to ignore the students in the room.

"He was all focused on" the teacher, Brown said. "You could tell his intent was to go after the teacher."

The student followed her classmates.

"My body just took over," she said, "and I just ran" down four flights of stairs.

Police and campus officials employed procedures that have been widely disseminated since the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech in which Seung Hui Cho killed 32 people and himself.

Northern Virginia Community College campus officials notified the school's 8,500 students and staff members via text messages, the Internet and phone calls and locked down the campus, meaning that no one was allowed to leave buildings, said Sam Hill, the school's provost.

Police treated the incident as an "active shooter" scene and entered immediately, said Sgt. Kim Chinn, a Prince William police spokeswoman.

"I can't say enough good things about the way this was handled," Hill said.

Prince William Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said, "It had the potential for something much worse."

"At the end of the day, when I go home, if everyone is safe, I know I did a good job, and that's what happened today," Mellis said.

Some students were in their classrooms more than two hours after the shooting, as police went from room to room to make sure there was not a second gunman.

A student in the building where the shooting took place, Michelle Wittkoff, 43, said she was in a third-floor classroom and heard no shots. A student from another class walked in and told her class that there had been a shooting. Wittkoff said she looked outside and saw police with guns drawn.