VSU freshman woke up to 'like 100 shots going off' outside his dorm during welcome week

ETTRICK, Va. — Miles Blake came to Virginia State University for welcome week excited about his first year as an engineering student. He did not expect to spend it sheltering in his dorm room after a mass shooting outside his building.

"I wasn't expecting that at all," Blake said. "I knew something was going to happen, but I wasn't expecting a shooting."

Blake was inside his dorm in the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 15, when gunfire erupted near the Quad Annexes in the 3300 block of Boisseau Street.

"It was like 100 shots going off. Like rapid fire," Blake said.

SCENE VIDEO: 5 injured in shooting outside Virginia State University dorms

He looked out his window and saw the chaos unfolding.

"I looked out the window and I saw everyone running. Everybody was just running, so I knew there were shots," Blake said.

Resident advisers quickly moved to secure students inside the building.

"All the RAs were running outside telling all the students to come in and nobody could really walk outside the building," Blake said.

WTVR

Five people were shot in the incident, one critically. All five were taken to nearby hospitals. One of the victims — a VSU student — sustained non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released from the hospital.

The shooting triggered an hours-long campus-wide lockdown, which was lifted around 8:20 a.m. It has since transitioned to a campus-wide curfew.

"No students that are off the campus can come on the campus after 9 p.m. and they just put more cops on duty," Blake said.

An increased police presence is visible on campus as students continue moving in ahead of Monday's first day of classes. VSU Police are being assisted by the Hanover County Sheriff's Office and the ATF as the investigation continues.

Blake said the experience left him with a message for his fellow students.

"Don't hang around the wrong people, because if I was hanging around the wrong people, I would have been out there, and I could have got shot," Blake said.

Classes are set to begin at the Historically Black University on Monday. The school welcomed nearly 1,500 new students with a special pinning ceremony Friday morning, featuring NFL MVP Cam Newton as the guest speaker.

If you have information that could help detectives, call Chesterfield Police at 804-748-1251, Crime Solvers at 804-748-0660 or VSU Police at 804-524-5411.

This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.