US:Nestling in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, the modest town of Blacksburg is a low-rise community of red-brick buildings and leafy avenues known as a haven for outdoor sports enthusiasts.
The town was named by Outdoor magazine as one of America's top 10 places to live. A community of 39,000 people, Blacksburg is dominated by its Virginia Tech campus, which accounts for 60 per cent of its population.
Violent crime is a rarity in Blacksburg. The town's police department boasts that a recent citizens' survey found 91 per cent of residents felt safe in their homes.
However, yesterday was the second time in a year that Virginia Tech's campus went into a "lockdown".
In August, a robbery suspect, William Morva, was accused of shooting his way out of police custody at a nearby hospital. Hundreds of police searched Virginia Tech's 2,600-acre campus before finding him hiding in a briar patch. - ( Guardian service)