A Virginia Tech employee shot himself in a room off the Cassell Coliseum arena on Saturday afternoon, officials said.

Tech police responded to the incident at 2:15 p.m., and the man was flown to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.

Officials declined to identify the man, and his condition is unknown.

Although officials said the shooting posed no threat to the campus community, Flinchum said police notified the public by e-mail using part of an alert system put in place after the April 16, 2007, shootings.

-- Tonia Moxley