Professor and student die in UCLA murder-suicide shooting rampage
Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, William S. Klug, 39, father of two, killed by student in murder-suicide that shut down UCLA campus
22-year-old recorded chilling, sexist video manifesto before his rampage
Targeted a sorority house, no one answered the door, opened fire on passersby, later turned his weapon on himself
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck declared the campus safe about two hours after shots rang out at Boelter Hall, a science and engineering building.
“It appears that it is entirely contained,” Beck told reporters. “We believe there are no suspects outstanding and no continuing threat to UCLA’s campus.”
He said a gun was found at the scene.
Police respond to a fatal shooting at the University of California, Los Angeles, Wednesday.
“There is evidence that there could be a suicide note, but we do not know that,” Beck said.
He said both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
“It was a student who shot a professor,” a police source said. The victim was identified as professor William S. Klug, of the school’s engineering department. Authorities had not identified the gunman, and a motive was not immediately clear. Andy Neiman, the LAPD’s chief spokesman, confirmed a note was found at the scene, but investigators had not determined whether it was connected to the shooting.
Hours earlier, the chaotic campus was immediately put on lockdown as police from various agencies scrambled to find the shooter, who was believed to still be at large several hours after the shooting was first reported at 10 a.m.
Scared students and teachers hunkered down in classrooms that were turned into bunkers as cops scoured the campus for a “gunman” in a black jacket and black pants
“They’re in the middle of finals,” Beck said of the students. “This is a very stressful time for them and we’re trying to alleviate this.”
“We were crowded together just keeping each other safe,” she told CNN.
“Go to a secure location and deny entry (lockdown) now!” the university wrote in the message to students. Los Angeles was placed on a “tactical alert citywide,” LAPD Capt. Andy Neiman told a group of reporters.
Aerial video of the campus showed police and emergency responders surrounding Boelter Hall and a nearby parking garage. The building is part of the university’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Some of the students had to put their engineering skills to work, rigging contraptions to secure doors that did not lock.
SWAT team arrives at the scene at UCLA.
“The doors open outward and we can’t lock them so we are barricading things in front of the door,” tweeted student Jason Schechter.
“Some students used a belt to lock the door and we later turned off the light,” said student Zach Lin. FBI and ATF agents also responded to the shooting.
ictim being carried out after the UCLA shooting.
“The whole campus just started running and I started running too,” Mehwish Khan, 21, told the Los Angeles Times. “Everyone was very confused. We got into the [library], and no one knew what was going on.”
Wednesday’s gunfire marks the second shooting in recent years at a University of California campus. In 2014, gunman Elliot Rodger killed six people near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara, about 100 miles northwest of UCLA.
The 22-year-old — who recorded a chilling, sexist video manifesto before his rampage — targeted a sorority house, but no one answered the door, so he opened fire on passersby before later turning his weapon on himself.
The UCLA campus is located 70 miles west of San Bernardino, where a gun-toting couple killed 14 people at an office holiday party in San Bernardino in a November attack.
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