Virginia State Police confirmed that the man who shot and killed a campus police officer at Virginia Tech U. Thursday afternoon took his own life a short time later.

Investigators have now identified the slain officer as Deriek Crouse, a four-year veteran of the school’s police force. The gunman’s name has not been released.

“At this time, Virginia State Police are still waiting for the Medical Examiner to make positive identification of the male gunman,” said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller. “Once identification is made, then investigators can formally notify his next of kin. At that time, Virginia State Police will release his name.”

Police confirmed that the gunman was not a Virginia Tech student, and said that there was no evidence that Crouse knew his killer. Investigators did say that there was a “likelihood” that the gunman was linked to a carjacking the day before the killings.

Friday, Virginia State Police shared new details of Crouse’s murder and the events leading up to the gunman’s eventual suicide.

According to investigators, at around 12:15pm on Thursday, Crouse was sitting in his his unmarked Crown Victoria patrol car during a traffic stop in the Coliseum parking lot on the Virginia Tech campus. The killer approached and shot Crouse, killing him.

The dashcam in Crouse’s car captured video of a man with a handgun near his car at the time of the shooting.

Police say the shooter then ran off to change his clothes.

Geller said the gunman “put a pullover top and wool cap into a backpack. The backpack was recovered outside the Greenhouses later Thursday afternoon by a Blacksburg Police Officer.”

Around 12:45 a Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy saw a man in a parking lot approximately a half-mile from the scene of the original shooting.

During Friday’s press conference Geller said, “He was a lone man, walking through the lot, with furtive movements. It was a little suspicious,”

By the time that deputy got to the suspect, police say he was already dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators say that no one actually saw the man shoot himself. That man did not have any identification on him.

Ballistic testing later confirmed that the gun the suspect used to kill himself was the same weapon that killed Crouse.

Virginia Tech police say Crouse was a 39-year-old Army veteran from Christiansburg, Va. He is survived by his wife and five children and step-children.

A memorial fund has been established to help Crouse’s family. Those wishing to contribute can mail checks, payable to “Deriek Crouse Memorial Fund,” to the address below:

National Bank of Blacksburg
Attn: Dana Sutphin
P.O. Box 90002
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9002