BLACKSBURG, Virginia (AP) – A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dormitory and then in a classroom building across campus two hours later yesterday, killing 32 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in US history.

The gunman later committed suicide, bringing the death toll to 33.

Students said there were no public address announcements or other warnings on campus until an e-mail more than two hours after the first shooting – around the time the gunman struck again.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed that the shooting at the dormitory was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus.

“We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur,” he said.

He defended the university’s handling of the tragedy, saying, “We can only make decisions based on the information you had at the time. You don’t have hours to reflect on it.”

Investigators offered no motive for the attack. The gunman’s name was not immediately released, and it was not known if he was a student.

The shootings spread panic and confusion on campus, with witnesses reporting students jumping out classroom windows to escape the gunfire. Students and faculty members carried out some of the wounded themselves, without waiting for ambulances to arrive. A police commando unit with flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed the campus.

Police said some doors in the classroom building had been chained shut from the inside.

“Schools should be places of safety, sanctuary and learning,” President George W Bush said yesterday afternoon. “When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom in every American community.”

Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth II was “shocked and saddened” after hearing of the shootings. She had planned to visit Virginia in May to mark the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement.

The bloodbath took place at opposite sides of the 2,600-acre (1,050-hectare) campus, beginning at about 7:15 am at West Ambler Johnston, a coed residence hall that houses 895 people, and continuing about two hours later at Norris Hall, an engineering building.

Two people were killed in a dormitory room, and 31 others were killed in the engineering building, including the gunman, police said.

“Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions,” Steger said. “The university is shocked and indeed horrified.”

Steger said the university decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means to notify members of the university, but with 11,000 people driving onto campus in the morning, it was difficult to reach everyone. He said that before the e-mail went out, the university began telephoning resident advisers in the dorms to notify them and sent people to knock on doors to spread the word.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum would not say how many weapons the gunman carried. But a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was incomplete, said the gunman had two pistols and multiple clips of ammunition.

Police said they were still investigating the shooting at the dorm when they got word of gunfire at the classroom building.

Some students bitterly questioned why the gunman was able to strike a second time.

“What happened today, this was ridiculous,” student Jason Piatt told CNN. “While they send out that e-mail, 20 more people got killed.”

Students and Laura

Wedin, a student programmes manager at Virginia Tech, said the first notification they got of the shootings came in an e-mail at 9:26 am, more than two hours after the first shooting.

The e-mail had few details. It said: “A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating.” The message warned students to be cautious and contact police about anything suspicious.