BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) - After a massive manhunt that shut down the Virginia Tech campus on the first day of classes, police on Monday captured an escapee suspected in the slayings of a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy. Police Lt. Joe Davis could not provide additional details on William Morva's arrest.
Morva, 24, had escaped from a hospital where he had been taken for treatment of a sprained wrist and ankle early Sunday.
Morva, who had been jailed awaiting trial on charges of attempting to rob a store last year, apparently shed his orange prison jumpsuit after escaping.
Virginia Tech Vice President Kurt Krause canceled classes for the school's more than 25,000 students shortly after the first day of the semester had started.
During the search, dump trucks and police cruisers blocked roads leading to campus, and sharpshooters were posted on campus rooftops.
Authorities said Morva was spotted wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt and khaki shorts, helping him to blend in with other students.
"It's very scary," said sophomore Kelly Engbersen of Williamsburg. "Every person you see you look hard (and wonder)—'Is that him?'"
Students and staff on campus quickly heeded the e-mailed warnings to get inside and stay there, students said.
Earlier in the day, Sheriff's Cpl. Eric E. Sutphin was closing in on Morva along a trail just off the 2,600-acre campus when Sutphin was fatally shot, the sheriff's department said.
According to police, Morva overpowered another sheriff's deputy at the hospital, took the deputy's gun and then shot an unarmed hospital security guard. The guard was identified as Derrick McFarland, 26. The deputy was in stable condition with injuries he suffered in the attack.
