A 20-year-old college student allegedly fired a high-powered rifle at his math teacher as she dove for cover in her Woodbridge classroom Tuesday, police said.
The alleged gunman walked into a classroom in the main administration building on Woodbridge’s Northern Virginia Community College campus Tuesday afternoon, Prince William County police said. When the teacher inside the classroom spotted the gun, she “hit the floor” and the gunman’s shots went over her head, police spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Chinn said.
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Police arrested Jason Michael Hamilton of Manassas on charges of attempted murder and discharging a firearm in a school zone. Authorities said he fired the rifle “several times.”
The gunfire was overheard by a campus police officer who was conducting a traffic stop around 2:40 p.m., Chinn said. The officer radioed Prince William County police after students fleeing the administration building told him there was a man with a gun.
Tactical teams were sent into motion as they responded to an “active shooter” situation, authorities said. Campus officials immediately locked the campus down.
Chinn said there were around 25 students in the classroom when the shots were fired. What happened after the gunfire was not yet clear Tuesday evening, she said.
When police found the gunman he was in the hall without his weapon, Chinn said. He pointed officers to the gun and he was taken into custody without a struggle. It appeared, she said, that the gunman was an “upset student.”
Some students remained locked inside classrooms in the main administration building well into the evening as tactical teams conducted a floor-by-floor search to ensure the gunman acted alone and that no one was injured.
The college issued an e-mail alert for the Woodbridge campus, advising students and faculty to find shelter immediately because of an emergency on campus. High school students had already been dismissed from nearby Freedom High School when the shots were fired, but the school also hosts college night classes and it was locked down as a precaution, college officials said.
Classes at NOVA’s Woodbridge campus were canceled Tuesday night.
“Our goal is to ensure every possible measure is taken to guarantee the safety of our faculty, staff and students,” a college press release said.
