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| Students and faculty members are escorted by a police officer from the scene of a fatal shooting at the University of California, Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 1, 2016, in Los Angeles. |
LOS ANGELES
(AP) -- Hundreds of heavily armed officers swarmed the sprawling
UCLA campus Wednesday following a shooting that forced thousands to
barricade themselves in classrooms and offices, some using belts and
chairs to secure doors, until authorities determined the gunman and
single victim were dead.
About two hours after
the first 911 call came in around 10 a.m., with the center of campus
still saturated with officers, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck
said it was a murder-suicide and declared the threat over. Two men were
dead in an engineering building office, and authorities found a gun and
what might be a suicide note, he said.
Authorities did not identify the men, and a motive was not immediately clear.
The
response to the shooting was overwhelming: Teams of officers in helmets
and bulletproof vests looking for victims and suspects ran across the
normally tranquil campus tucked in the city's bustling west side. Some
with high-powered rifles yelled for bystanders to flee.
Groups of officers stormed into buildings that had been locked down and cleared hallways as police helicopters hovered overhead.
Advised
by university text alerts to turn out the lights and lock the doors
where they were, many students let friends and family know they were
safe in social media posts. Some described frantic evacuation scenes,
while others wrote that their doors weren't locking and posted photos of
photocopiers and foosball tables they used as barricades.
It
was the week before final exams at the University of California, Los
Angeles, whose 43,000 students make it the largest campus in the
University of California system. Classes were canceled Wednesday but
would resume Thursday.
Olivia Cabadas, a
22-year-old nursing student, was getting ready to take a quiz in the
mathematics building when her classmates began getting cellphone alerts.
Through a window, they could see students rushing down the hallway.
An officer yelled that everyone should get out.
"It was just a little surreal - this is actually happening," Cabadas said. "It was chaos."
Those
locked down inside classrooms described a nervous calm. Some said they
had to rig the doors closed with whatever was at hand because they would
not lock.
Umar Rehman, 21, was in a math
sciences classroom adjacent to Engineering IV, the building where the
shooting took place. The buildings are connected by walkway bridges near
the center of the 419-acre campus.
"We kept our eye on the door. We knew that somebody eventually could come," he said, acknowledging the terror he felt.
The
door would not lock and those in the room devised a plan to hold it
closed using a belt and crowbar, and demand ID from anyone who tried to
get in.
Scott Waugh, an executive vice
chancellor and provost, said the university would look into concerns
about doors that would not lock. Overall, he said, the response was
smooth.
Tanya Alam, 19, also was in the same
classroom with about 20 other students. She said she saw an alert on her
phone that warned of police activity near Engineering IV. Then, several
minutes later, an alert said there was an active shooter.
"I
let that sink in. Then I realized there was a shooter on campus and
Engineering IV is right here! So I said it out loud," she said.
The
teacher's assistant told students to shut their laptops, turned out all
the lights and switched off the projector. They were ordered to be
quiet and got under their desks. Sitting on the ground, Alam cried.
Students
were told to put their phones away, too, but no one did, she said. In
the darkened room, the glow of screens illuminated many faces.
"On
one hand, yes, this is an emergency. But on the other hand when your
mother is calling from miles away ..." Alam said, trailing off.
Their
entire classroom was finally allowed to leave. Students were greeted by
a phalanx of SWAT team members but were not searched.
SWAT
officers cleared occupants one by one at the mathematical sciences
building. One man walked out with his hands up and was told to get on
his knees. An armed officer searched him and his backpack, then sent him
on his way with his hands still in the air.
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This story has been corrected to report that the shooting happened in the Engineering IV building, not Boelter Hall.
