After the University of Los Angeles, California Police Department mandated a campus-wide lockdown, one group of students realized their classroom door didn't have a lock on it. Faced with the possibility that an active shooter could easily enter the room, UCLA students engineered their own makeshift locks under pressure. One student, Pranasha Shrestha, posted photos of the "locks" to Twitter and although their methodology is difficult to decipher, it's clear that the students knew what they were doing. These contraptions, which could very well save their lives, are the product of ingeniously quick thinking and bravery. Update: The Los Angeles Police Chief confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the shooting was a murder-suicide.
According to comments on her post, Shrestha studies engineering and has spoken with CNN, all while under lockdown. Regardless of their location, UCLA students have remained active on social media while under lockdown, informing people of their whereabouts and any information they might know. Some have expressed exasperation at the fact that many doors simply don't have locks on them. It looks as though Shrestha and her classmates used a chair to jam the door and secured a table against it.
Jason Schechter was with another group of students that barricaded printers up against a door, using electrical cords to fasten them to the handle.
Some have even resorted to building barricades against the doors with whatever bulky items they can find, @whydaphnewhy explained on Twitter.
Lastly, Anthropology and Communication Studies student Carrie Rappaport reported having to use her belt to lock the door.
UCLA went under lockdown after two shootings were reported near Boelter Hall and Engineering Building IV on Wednesday morning. Two men were pronounced dead by authorities. Hours following the incident, the search for the shooter continued, with some speculation that one of the men who died might have been the gunman.
According to the Los Angeles Times, police adopted a search and clear strategy, meticulously moving from classroom to classroom to find the suspect. The 419-acre-wide campus makes this type of search especially daunting, CNN senior law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes explained. Though the shooter is now thought to have killed himself, the campus was swarmed by armed members of the Los Angeles Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Fire Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Even so, students in unlocked classrooms were ultimately left to defend themselves, showing the nation why maintaining logical, clear-minded thinking is of the utmost importance in chaotic and dangerous situations.
