Five people have been injured, one critically, in a shooting at Virginia State University (VSU) involving multiple suspects.

Officers responded to the incident outside a residence halls at about 01:28 local time (05:28 GMT) on Saturday, the university said.

Five individuals, who were all found with gunshot wounds, were taken to local hospitals. Four had injuries that were deemed not to be life-threatening, according to the VSU, which is one of the country's historically black colleges and universities.

Local police told the BBC that they believe more than one shooter was involved, but that no arrests had been made.

A temporary lockdown on the campus has since been lifted, but a "significant" law enforcement presence was still on site, the university confirmed in a statement.

It added that Chesterfield County Police were leading the investigation with help from other local law enforcement and campus police.

Classes for the new term were set to begin on Monday and campus dormitories opened for returning students on Friday, according to the university's website.

Lt James R Lamb of Chesterfield County Police Department told the BBC that one of the victims was a student and another was under 18.

The university stated that the student victim had "sustained non-life-threatening injuries" and had been discharged from hospital.

"We don't have anybody in custody," Lamb said. "We know there was more than one shooter, so I would say the suspects are still at large."

He said investigators were still reviewing surveillance video and were not currently treating any of the five people who were injured as suspects.

VSU has about 5,000 students and is just over 20 miles (32km) south of Richmond, the state capital of Virginia.

Such institutions were created to provide higher education to disenfranchised African Americans, who were otherwise prohibited from attending most colleges.