Updated Thursday, May 16 – 11 am
Santa Monica College’s main campus at 1900 Pico Boulevard was locked down briefly Thursday morning while authorities investigated and arrested a student claiming to have a gun on campus, who is now believed to be behind making threats at other Los Angeles area schools.
Neighboring schools — Will Rogers Elementary School at 2401 14th St and John Adams Middle School at 2425 16th Street — were also locked down while the Santa Monica Police Department and SMC police investigated.
SMC District officials officially lifted the lock down as of 9:42 am.
“Campus Police have detained the student who made the threatening phone call to the college campus,” an email to the student body read. “All classes and activities should return to their regular schedule.”
At 8:46 am Thursday morning, SMC students were notified via the college’s email alert system that “Santa Monica College will be on lock down until further notice. Please stay away from the campus until notified of clearance.”
No weapon was found on the student when he was taken into custody at 9:35 am. The student, aged 19, has not been identified, but threatened he “may kill himself,” according to the LA Times.
Authorities are now saying this man arrested at SMC may be linked to a similar situation in Monterey Park where the East Los Angeles College campus and several neighboring schools were locked down this morning.
Authorities evacuated East L.A. college after a suspect made a call threatening to shoot up a large, unspecified school at 8 am.
Check back at smmirror.com for updates on this developing story.
