Lockdown lifted after shooting death near university campus, suspect sought

(CNN) - Police were looking for a suspect Friday, but a six-hour lockdown prompted by a fatal shooting near the campus of Radford University southwest of Roanoke, Virginia, had been lifted.

Students at Radford University were told to lock their doors and to stay inside early Friday, after a man was shot in the chest and killed in a residential area a couple of blocks away.

The shooting occurred at about 9:10 p.m. Thursday, according to university spokesman Michael Hemphill.

After the shooting, a manhunt spilled onto the university campus as authorities believed the gunman had fled to the school.

In a series of phone calls, e-mails and text messages, students were being warned that the university was on lockdown.

Police searched buildings on the sprawling campus of 7,500 students for the gunman but at 3 a.m., students received a cryptic message stating the lockdown had been lifted and the campus was safe.

"It appears the off-campus incident was not a random act of violence," the message said.

A university statement added, "The campus is secure and Radford University will now return to normal operations."

A spokesman for Radford University police told CNN that the shooter had not been captured and that investigators believed that neither the victim nor the suspect were students.

He would not explain why police believed the campus was safe.

Radford Police Chief Don Goodman told the Roanoke Times that the suspect was a tall and slim male, may have a goatee and was wearing no shirt and a camouflage jacket.

City, state and campus police were searching for the shooter, Hemphill said. Virginia Tech University police were also helping in the search because Virginia Tech is about 20 minutes away from the shooting, according to the spokesman.