Police: Shooting at UCLA was murder-suicide, no search for suspect
Jun 1, 2016, 11:20 AM | Updated: 12:41 pm
(Twitter Photo/@ABC7JulieSone)
(Twitter Photo/@ABC7JulieSone)
LOS ANGELES — Two people were killed Wednesday morning in a murder-suicide at the University of California, Los Angeles, police said.
Both victims were male. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said officers were not searching for a suspect.
“The issue at it occurred has been contained,” he told media.
“We believe the campus is safe.”
The shooting took place inside a UCLA campus building.
BruinAlert: Shooting at Engineering 4. Go to secure location and deny entry (lockdown) now!
— UCLA Bruin Alert (@UCLABruinAlert) June 1, 2016
The scene of the shooting, Boelter Hall, is near the center of a campus that occupies 419 acres in a bustling part of Los Angeles.
Bioengineering professor Denise Aberle said she could see “a lot of police activity with innumerable cars” and a police helicopter hovering over the engineering building.
“Police keep coming,” she said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives both told the Los Angeles Times they were responding to the scene.
News helicopter footage showed numerous emergency response vehicles and armed police officers running through the campus.
The campus was placed on lockdown for several hours.
Many students posted to social media to let friends and family know they were safe. Some described frantic evacuation scenes and a large police response, others wrote of sitting in darkened rooms after barricading doors.
A student told the Times that they used belts to secure classroom doors during the lockdown.
Police were checking students individually as they left campus buildings.
The shooting put the entirety of the Los Angeles Police Department on alert.
#LAPD News UPDATE: #LAPD is on a citywide Tactical Alert. Please stay clear of the #UCLA campus area.
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) June 1, 2016
The department’s bomb squad was on scene, but a police official told media it was a precautionary decision.
The shooting occurred the week before final exams at the school, the flagship of the University of California system with about 43,000 students.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
