The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) was put into a nearly two-hour lock down while a massive law enforcement presence from local, state and federal authorities sought the “active shooter.” Two hours later it appears there was no active shooter at all but rather simply a murder-suicide so it was likely just a few seconds of an “active shooter” but students didn’t know this.
Barricade or fight back during UCLA lock down?
I’m not going to use this event as a forum for a discussion on the merits of gun control or a person’s right to carry a gun on a campus or not. Rather, I’ll simply say that in a similar incident I would prefer to be armed along with a few other students in what ever room I happen to be in but know that we’re not the active shooter. If that’s not the case it would be nice to have an arrangement with a few others that we would rush anyone coming through that door during a the lock down.
That said, a lecture hall full of students with lots of things to throw at anyone coming through that door would also be nice with both options likely be significantly better with members of the football team in the same room. However, those odds are low as I can see attending a prestigious university like UCLA to take “Rocks for Jocks” (Geology 101), Intro To Underwater Basket Weaving or Introduction to Social Media.
A third option would certainly be to bar entry to the room by locking the door. As it happened in this case, a number of those doors didn’t have locks and many opened outward so a traditional barricade while quite possible effective by definition was less effective though certainly not impossible.
Rafi Sands, vice president of UCLA’s student government as well as a number of other students were speaking with the media while the lock down was in effect. Additionally, figure nearly 100% of those affected by the lock down had access to social media, texts from UCLA, and well the news so were likely aware of all that was occurring on other parts of campus.
Sands told The Los Angeles Times that he and a number of other students were using their belts to secure the pneumatic arms of the doors and largely felt safe.
“We get a lot of Bruin Alerts for small things,” he said. “It took a while for everyone to realize this is serious.”
And the belts came off.
Others went a different route
The bodies were found in a part of the Engineering School, specifically the building Engineering IV. As you might expect, engineering students were a touch more clever with their engineering means by which to secure the doors they found themselves behind, often doors that also didn’t have locks and opened outward as well.
Jason Schechter, explained on Twitter: “The doors open outward and we can’t lock them so we are barricading things in front of the door #Ucla #activeshooter.”
Ultimately, none of this proved necessary but there were some elaborate plans and designs from the engineering department which they were all to happy to share via social media.
Outside of the one murdered and presumably his family and friends and the unfortunate actions of another, there was quite a bit of engineering and lessons for others if in the same unfortunate situation.
