UCLA Shooting Victim Identified As A Professor

On Wednesday, a startling situation locked down the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. Two people were shot and killed in what appeared to be a murder-suicide inside one of the campus's buildings. Several hours after the shooting, the victim was identified as UCLA professor William Klug.

Just after 6 p.m. local time, The Los Angeles Times reported that several sources had identified Klug as the victim of the deadly attack. Local media also reported Klug's identity, although a university official had earlier declined to publicly state the victim's name. However, a police source did confirm to The New York Daily News that the victim was a professor.

Klug was a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA, the very institution where he received his master's degree in civil engineering in 1999. Klug also obtained a bachelor's from Westmont College in Santa Barbara and a PhD from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Westmont College confirmed Klug's death on its blog Wednesday. According to The L.A. Times, Klug had been studying the relationship between mechanics and biology. Among his areas of focus was the electromechanics of the heart. For that research, Klug worked with a team of several others, including scholars and PhD students.

Klug leaves behind a wife and two young children. Klug's wife also attended Westmont College and studied engineering. According to a local ABC station in Los Angeles, Klug was known in his community as the coach of his 10-year-old son's Little League baseball team. His other child is reportedly a younger daughter.

The incident at UCLA occurred in Boelter Hall, a building home to multiple engineering departments. The campus lockdown began around 10 a.m. local time and continued until around noon. During that time, students bravely barricaded doors and used classroom materials to secure their locations.

Classes were canceled for all UCLA students on Wednesday, with most resuming on Thursday. The engineering department, however, will not hold classes for the rest of the week. The university announced Wednesday following the all-clear signal that counseling services would be available to those on campus.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block expressed the university's condolences in a statement Wednesday, informing students, faculty, and staff of the services that would be available to them following the incident: "Our UCLA family has indeed been shaken, but we will rely upon the strong bonds of our community and our faith in one another as we begin the process of healing." Block also thanked emergency responders for their work during the lockdown.