Five people were wounded in a shooting involving multiple suspects at Virginia State University early on Saturday (August 15, 2026), prompting a campus lockdown and police investigation just as students got ready for a new school year.
At least one of the wounded people was later confirmed to be a student, the university said in a statement. The person confirmed to be a student was among those whose injuries were not life-threatening, and the student has been released from a hospital, the university said. It happened near the university’s Quad Annexes, where campus police and Chesterfield County officers discovered five people suffering from gunshot wounds outside campus dormitories. Police and university officials have not identified any of the victims. “The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority. Most of its students are undergraduates.
The shooting was still under investigation later on Saturday (August 15, 2026) and happened as Virginia State’s academic year begins. Residence halls opened for students a week ago, and classes resume on Monday (August 17, 2026), according to the university’s website. The campus had a large law enforcement presence on Saturday (August 15, 2026) morning, and the university informed students that they should monitor their email for additional safety measures and information about support services. Virginia State University is a historically Black university located in Ettrick, Virginia, about 24 miles south of the State capital of Richmond. The public university has about 5,700 students and was the first fully state-supported four-year college for Black Americans.
Many students had just completed the university’s “New Trojans Experience” for incoming students. The five were taken to hospitals, and one initially listed as having life-threatening injuries has been upgraded to critical condition, county police said. The others sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The university said in a statement early on Saturday (August 15, 2026) that the shooting involves “multiple suspects”. It said in a statement later in the day that law enforcement did not believe there was an immediate threat to the campus community, and a campus lockdown had been lifted. “We recognize the concern this incident has caused among our students, parents, alumni, friends, and the broader VSU community,” the university statement said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office were assisting, county police said.
