Courtesy of Flickr user Prayitno
An apparent murder-suicide on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles left two people dead Wednesday morning, UCLA Police Department Chief James Herren said.
The shooting was reported first at 9:55 a.m. by UCLA spokeswoman Rebecca Kendall, who said at the time that there was a shooting in Boelter Hall, a building used for engineering classes.
In a tweet sent at 10:45 a.m., the Los Angeles Police Department advised students to stay away from Engineering Building #4 and then later issued a campus lockdown.
Students were sent safety alerts through text message and email, warning them of the lockdown situation throughout campus and instructing students to remain in their dorm rooms. Local news station KTLA aired footage of officers being assigned to go room to room within campus buildings, clearing people in groups of five to six, leading them outside the building and frisking and searching them, before escorting them away.
The UCLA Police Chief James Herren said the number of shooters was “unknown,” but that one of the deceased may have been a shooter.
The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also assisted campus and city police, and officials also placed nearby K-12 schools on lockdown as a precaution due to the police activity in the area.
Around 3:10 p.m., the LAPD declared campus "safe" and the incident "contained" in a tweet.
This incident comes just a week before finals exams at a time where most students are on campus. The last day of class is scheduled for June 3 and graduation is set to take place on June 10 and June 11. UCLA is the largest and flagship campus of the University of California system, with over 43,000 students on campus.
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