3:56 p.m. DEVELOPING
BLACKSBURG, Va (AP) - Police say they have captured a fugitive suspected of killing a hospital guard and a sheriff’s deputy near the Virginia Tech campus.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department said Cpl. Eric E. Sutphin was fatally shot by William Morva as he closed in on the suspect on a trail off of the Tech campus.
Cpl. Sutphin was a decorated 13-year veteran of the department.
Morva, 24, was reported wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt and khaki shorts.
A campus official said students and workers were advised to remain inside to “avoid a mass evacuation that would cause more confusion.”
Morva, a Montgomery County jail inmate, was sought in the fatal shooting Sunday of hospital security guard Derrick McFarland. Police narrowed the search for Morva today to an area near the Tech campus.
Police swept the region using helicopters and dogs.
Morva was awaiting trial on charges of attempting to rob a store last year when he was taken to Montgomery Regional Hospital for treatment of a sprained leg and wrist early Sunday.
Police said he attacked a deputy guarding him, took his gun, and shot Mr. McFarland, 26, as he tried to help the deputy.
Afterward, police say he shed his orange prison jumpsuit and fled.
The deputy sheriff who brought Morva to the hospital was in stable condition from his injuries following the attack.
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