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Post-crime action at the University of Virginia
Photo: Steve Helber/AP
The alleged perpetrator has been arrested after the act of violence on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
He is believed to have killed three people and injured two others, the college and police said.
A student at the university is an urgent suspect, it said.
The armed man initially fled, but according to the police, he was caught on Monday morning.
The director of the university said at a press conference that the three people killed were members of a football team.
The crime happened when they were returning from a trip.
More violence in Idaho
After the crime on Sunday around 10:30 p.m. local time, people on campus were asked to get to safety and not to go out.
The site was cordoned off and classes for Monday were canceled.
The police responsible for the university issued a description of the alleged shooter.
Helicopters were also used in the search.
Hours earlier, the bodies of four students were discovered in an apartment near the University of Idaho campus in the Northwest of the United States.
The university said they were probably the victims of a murder, citing the investigators.
The background to the crime is not yet known.
bbr/Reuters/dpa