A shooting near the residence halls of Virginia State University in the United States left five people wounded early Saturday morning, triggering a hours-long campus-wide lockdown.

The incident occurred near the university's Quad Annexes and involved multiple suspects, the school said in a statement. All five injured individuals were hospitalised, including one in critical condition.

"VSU Police and the Chesterfield County Police Department are actively investigating," the university statement read. "The campus community should continue to avoid the area and follow all law enforcement instructions."

The campus-wide lockdown was lifted at 8:21 a.m. local time (12:21 GMT), though a "significant law enforcement presence" remained on campus as the investigation continued.

The university encouraged anyone with information about the incident to contact the Chesterfield County Police Department, which is leading the investigation.

The shooting took place just two days before the university's fall semester was due to begin.

Virginia State University is a historically Black university located in Ettrick, Virginia, approximately 24 miles south of the state capital, Richmond. It enrolls about 5,700 students and was the first fully state-supported four-year college for Black Americans.

Gun violence at colleges and universities in the United States is relatively common. The Gun Violence Archive, a national tracker, recorded 100 incidents in which individuals were wounded or killed in shootings at higher education institutions in 2025, with a total of 75 shootings recorded that year.

One of the most high-profile attacks in recent years also occurred in Virginia, when a gunman fatally shot 32 people and wounded 17 others at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, known as Virginia Tech, in 2007.

Earlier this year, a man opened fire on a Reserve Officers' Training Corps group at Old Dominion University, killing an instructor and wounding two others.