Virginia Tech students were encouraged to attend class Monday, the five-year anniversary of the school's 2007 massacre in which 23-year-old Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 people, then himself.

In the years since the deadliest mass killing in contemporary American history, classes have been canceled, with this being the first year the normal schedule will resume with hopes of healing on the mind.

The Virginia Tech shooter was identified late Friday. He was Ross Truett Ashley, 22, who attended nearby Radford University.

Virginia State Police investigators are still trying to piece together what happened, and why. So far they've established that Ashley stole a 2011 Mercedes SUV at gunpoint on Wednesday, a full 24 hours before he appeared on the Tech campus.

There he shot and killed campus police officer Deriek Crouse, 39, as he sat in his patrol car.

Ashely then fled, changed his clothes, and as cops closed in, shot and killed himself.

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It is so far unknown if Ashley, who lived with his family in Paltrow, Va, knew Officer Crouse or if he had any connection to Virginia Tech.

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Two victims are confirmed dead at Virginia Tech and the campus is on lockdown after a gunman opened fire Thursday.

The suspect in the shooting has not been captured yet. He is described as a white man wearing grey sweats, a grey hat with a neon green brim,  a maroon hooded sweatshirt and a backpack, according to the university's website.

An authority, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the AP that shots were fired reportedly after a traffic stop.

Virginia Tech said via its website Thursday that the campus is on lockdown after a police officer was shot on campus.

The suspect has not been captured yet; he is described as a white man wearing grey sweats, a grey hat with a neon green brim and a maroon hooded sweatshirt with a backpack, according to the university's website.

The shooting comes just three years after the 2007 massacre in which 23-year-old Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 people, then himself.

Stay with RadarOnline.com for more details.

The campus of Virginia Tech was put on lockdown Thursday morning after three children attending summer camps at the university reported seeing a man with a gun covered by a cloth.

At a news conference Thursday, police confirmed that no one was in custody.

Authorities are now combing the campus, which was the scene of a horrifying massacre in April, 2007.

The university is on lock down in wake of the reports, as authorities combed the campus for the suspect.

At 9:30 a.m. ET, the man was reported as wearing a blue and white striped shirt, brown sandals and did not have glasses or facial hair, a university administrator Lynn Davis told CNN.