Virginia State University was put on lockdown for more than 12 hours after a series of fights on campus Wednesday night, according to university officials.

The lockdown, which was lifted at 7 a.m. on Thursday, was initiated after a series of fights erupted while students were participating in homecoming activities, resulting in one man being stabbed. Chesterfield police said the initial fight broke out near VSU's basketball court.

University spokesman Tom Reed said the man who suffered a stab wound to one leg, as several fights broke out on campus, was treated at a hospital and released, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

It isn't sure if the stabbing victim is a student.

VSU student Dominique Owens told WRIC.Com the incident was a great disturbance.

"It was just a riot ... and it was moving from different areas of the campus, just like a bunch of people fighting," he said. "Two girls started fighting, then that sparked like a huge riot ... people getting kicked in the head."

During the lockdown, students were instructed to return to their on-campus or off-campus housing and remain inside.

Thom Reed, a spokesperson for VSU told Wavy.Com that university police were getting reports of a fight on campus involving several hundred people around 6 p.m. Police were able to break up the fight and later learned that a man had been stabbed in the leg.

Shortly after, the school began restricting access to the campus.

Reed told Wavy.com that a series of secondary fights broke out around campus, which was harder than for campus police to control, prompting them to call Chesterfield Police Department to assist.

"Police came, shut everything down," Owens said.

At 5:42 p.m. the university sent out a tweet warning students of the lockdown.

"Due to an emergency on campus, #VSU locked down buildings and asked all persons to remain inside. This will continue until Thursday morning," they tweeted.

A suspect in the stabbing has been identified.

Reed told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he believes the suspect was identified to police by witnesses. He added that video footage that "purported to show the stabbing" has been circulating on social media.

There are no other known injuries.

Classes are expected to resume on their normal schedules on Thursday.