RICHMOND, Virginia: A state trooper who was fatally shot at a busy bus terminal during a training exercise was mourned Friday in Virginia and in Michigan, where he grew up, as officials investigated what sparked the shooting.

A gunman shot Trooper Chad P. Dermyer, 37, multiple times Thursday in Richmond before he was killed by two other troopers, police said. The gunman’s identity was withheld until his family could be notified.

Two women also were shot but were expected to recover. Their names haven’t been released, but spokesman Ryan Yarosh with Binghamton University in New York said Friday that one of the women was a member of the school’s track team. The team was headed Thursday to a meet at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, about 50 miles from Richmond.

Police say Dermyer, the father of two children, was a native of Jackson, Michigan, and a former Marine who had served on the force in Jackson and Newport News, Virginia.

Earlier this year, Dermyer and another trooper briefly became mini-celebrities when they rescued a lost dog running through interstate traffic in Hampton. The rescue was highlighted on WVEC TV and received widespread praise on social media.

Dermyer and his partner returned the dog, a miniature schnauzer named Pinta, to its owner Jeffrey Corbin. Corbin said Friday the brief meeting helped change his perception of state troopers. “I don’t have a lot of contact with state troopers, but in my mind’s eye they seem to be all business,” Corbin said. “But he seemed to be a really warm person. ... He had a warm persona about him.”

Dermyer grew up in Michigan and kept in touch with friends there, visiting last summer, The Jackson Citizen Patriot reported. Matt Miller of Jackson said he played soccer with and against Dermyer since they were children. He described Dermyer as a good guy and a strong athlete.

Dermyer had been participating with about a dozen other troopers in a training exercise at the bus station when a brief encounter with the gunman quickly turned violent.

Dermyer was dressed in a fatigue-style uniform and was not wearing a protective vest, the superintendent said.

“We’ve got a lot of evidence to sift through,” Flaherty said. The evidence, he said, included bags that could have belonged to the gunman.

A small army of law enforcement officers in tactical gear and dozens of cruisers and emergency response vehicles flooded to the station, in an area that includes a minor league baseball stadium and a variety of commercial establishments and restaurants.

Najee Wilson, 18, of Newark, New Jersey, said his bus was pulling up to the station when he heard three gunshots and saw people running out of the building.

“We heard a lot of people screaming,” Wilson said. “It definitely was a scary experience.”

Wilson, who was en route to Atlanta, was among about 200 travelers waiting to board buses at a staging area set up a few blocks from the bus station after the shooting.