Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger released a statement about the shooting Thursday night.
"Once again, the campus and the community that we love so well have been visited by senseless violence and tragic loss," the statement said. "Tragedy again struck Virginia Tech in a wanton act of violence where our police officer, Deriek Crouse, was murdered during a routine traffic stop."
Thursday's shooting differed from the mass killing but still served as a test to the new policies the school had implemented since April 16, 2007, when student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting rampage.
On Thursday, two people were killed, Officer Deriek W. Crouse and a man who police believe matched the description of the gunman that shot the officer.
The incident began about 12:15 p.m., when Crouse, a four-year Virginia Tech police veteran, pulled over someone during a routine traffic stop in the Cassell Coliseum parking lot near McComas Hall. The Cassell Coliseum at Virginia Tech houses athletic facilities. McComas Hall houses exercise facilities.
Then, before 12:30 p.m., police received their first call from a witness who said he'd seen the suspect -- who state police Sgt. Bob Carpentieri said authorities "do not believe ... was in the vehicle that was stopped" -- approach the officer's car and open fire.
The suspect ran from the area. About a quarter-mile from the first shooting, a man that appeared to be the suspect, was found dead from a gunshot wound, police said.
Maj. Rick Jenkins, of the Virginia State Police, said a video camera mounted inside the slain officer's car captured footage of a man with a weapon who matched the description of the man they found dead.
CNN affiliate WCAV, citing state police, said the man killed himself. The man's name has not been released by police.
Campus officials put out six alerts to students and faculty about the shooting.
On Thursday, law enforcement and school officials said the alert system put in place in recent years worked well, both from technological and communications standpoints.
"What I observed and experienced was significant cooperation from everybody I encountered," Deisinger said of what he saw, on campus, after the alerts went out. "I think the community received the notification and responded to that, as we asked them to."
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose daughter goes to Virginia Tech, lauded the communications effort.
MCDonnell says his daughter was confined to a basement classroom during the four-hour episode.
"Like so many parents who had children on the Virginia Tech campus, I felt a lot of that angst and uncertainty," he said. "Again, I want to express my gratitude to law enforcement for making sure that they kept the faculty (and) parents regularly informed."
Several Virginia Tech administrators -- including the head of campus police, Wendell Flinchum, and the emergency management director, Michael Mulhare -- were in Washington on Thursday at a federal court hearing on the 2007 shooting on the school's campus, according to U.S. Department of Education officials.
Crouse, 39, joined the Virginia Tech police force six months after the 2007 mass shooting, according to a release on the school's website. A U.S. Army veteran who had worked at the New River Valley jail and with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, the Christiansburg resident is survived by his wife as well as five children and stepchildren.
A small vigil was held Thursday night on the Blacksburg campus, and a similar event is scheduled for for 6:30 p.m. Friday, according to a student government association group.
CNN's Carol Cratty, Phil Gast, Greg Botelho, Vivian Kuo, Eric Fiegel and Sally Holland contributed to this report.
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