Virginia Tech reports fatal stabbing on campus

BLACKSBURG

A fatal stabbing on Virginia Tech campus has triggered a crisis alert system that was revamped after a deadly mass shooting there in 2007.

Students were warned at 7:44 p.m. Wednesday to stay in place in an alert sent by e-mail and text message. After a suspect was taken into custody, students were told about an hour later they could resume normal activity.

The killing took place at the Graduate Life Center. University spokesman Mark Owczarski tells the Richmond Times-Distpatch that the suspect is male and that police found a knife they believe was the murder weapon.

The alert system was revamped after gunman Seung-Hui Cho took 32 lives before turning the gun on himself in an April 2007 rampage. The revamped system has been used before. 

At 8:37 p.m. the school's Web site confirmed that someone was in custody and urged students to avoid the area but otherwise resume normal activity.

The Roanoke Times reported Wednesday night that the victim was a woman and knew her attacker, a graduate student who lives off campus. The Times story stated that the attack happened in an Au Bon Pain coffee shop in the Graduate Life Center. Both students are Asian, the newspaper reported.

The Graduate Life Center at the intersection of Otey Street and College Avenue opened for the 2005-06 school year in the former Donaldson Brown hotel as Tech's first-ever graduate student housing area, according to the Roanoke Times. It houses more than 100 students, the newspaper reported.