Police say seven bodies were found at one home, while an eighth shooting victim was found at the side of the road and died on the way to hospital.
Officers say they have surrounded a suspect in woodland just outside the central town of Appomattox.
At one point, a police helicopter was fired on and forced to land with a ruptured fuel tank.
All the victims were adults and both men and women were killed, state police Sergeant Thomas Molnar said.
Police said at a media briefing that officers from across the state had been brought in to the area.
Police dogs and a National Guard helicopter with thermal imaging equipment were being used to search the woods.
"We have him [the gunman] contained, we're fairly sure of that," they said.
A number of people living in the sealed-off wooded area have been evacuated.
It is not known what prompted the shootings.
Appomattox is about 160km (100 miles) south-west of Virginia's capital Richmond.
