The Huffington Post | By Anna Almendrala By Anna Almendrala Posted: 06/07/2013 4:01 pm EDT | Updated: 06/07/2013 7:04 pm EDT
Santa Monica College was placed on lockdown Friday after reports that a suspect fired a gun inside a campus building just before noon.
There are several victims, including the shooter, confirmed Santa Monica police Sgt. Rudy Flores to the Associated Press. In all, six people were being treated for injuries at UCLA hospitals.
Three female patients were receiving care at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said a hospital spokesperson to The Huffington Post. One of the female patients died of abdominal gunshot wounds, Dr. Marshall Morgan, chief of emergency medicine at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said at a press conference at 3:30 p.m. Another female patient was in critical condition and in surgery. The third female patient was in serious but stable condition.
Three other people were being treated at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica. One of the patients being treated may be the suspect, notes NBC Los Angeles, but the hospital would not confirm that detail to HuffPost. They were all being treated for non-critical injuries relating to the incident but none of them were shot, Dr. Morgan said.
Two other people were also found dead in a burned home near campus, Jeff Furrows of the Santa Monica Fire Department said to the AP. A woman also was found with a gunshot wound in a car outside the burned home, he said.
California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Officer Kerri Rivas walked HuffPost through the timeline of Friday's shooting from the point of view of the CHP.
11:55 a.m.: CHP began receiving multiple phone calls reporting a man dressed in black standing on a street corner. The reports varied in description: witnesses described him as either fully armed, holding a shotgun or holding several different weapons.
11:59 a.m.: CHP started fielding calls that the gunman was actively shooting at a bus and that there were injured parties inside the vehicle (See a photo of the bus with gunshots). At that point CHP officials were able to confirm with the Santa Monica Police Department that they had an active shooter on their hands.
12:17 p.m.: Santa Monica College students heard screams and shots being fired inside the library.
1:29 p.m.: SMPD confirmed they had one shooter in custody. From then on, the department began the process of containing and clearing the entire campus in search of other victims and suspects.
2:11 p.m.: At the time of HuffPost's call, authorities were continuing to clear the campus. The process could take several hours.
A Santa Monica College student described the gunman in an interview with the Associated Press. From AP:
Jimes Gillespie, 20, told The Associated Press he was in the college's library studying when he heard the gunfire, and he and dozens of other students began fleeing the three-story building.
"As I was running down the stairs I saw one of the gunmen," said Gillespie, who described the shooter as a white man in his 20s, wearing cornrows in his hair and black overalls. He said the man was carrying a shotgun.
Gillespie believes there were two shooters because he heard two kinds of gunfire – a shotgun and a handgun – but only saw one person.
"The shotgun blast was first. It was either him or the partner who shot eight to 10 handgun shots," Gillespie said. "Then after I saw the gunman I heard more shots and I ran out of the library through the emergency exit."
As Gillespie ran away across campus, he said he saw a car in front of the English building that was riddled with bullet holes, had shattered windows and a baby's car seat in the back.
California Highway Patrol Officer Vince Ramirez said his agency began receiving 911 calls just minutes before noon.
Police officers were searching the campus after witnesses said they believed there was a second shooter, although officers emphasized that those reports were unconfirmed, the AP reports.
An arson and explosives team was on its way to the library after reports that the shooter left bags in the building, ABC7 tweeted shortly after noon. Photos on social media reveal that a SWAT team is on scene near the campus.
The college issued this statement about the incident:
There have been reports of a shooter on the main SMC campus. The college is on lock-down. This means that if you are on campus, stay out of open spaces, stay in doors, lock all doors and do not open the doors until you receive an all clear from college officials. If you are off campus, do not come to campus.
The college also told students with final exams on Friday to stay home if their tests were scheduled to take place on the main campus.
As a precaution, the Santa Monica Police Department put all Santa Monica public schools on lockdown at 12:15 p.m. Superintendent Sandra Lyon released a statement asking parents and caregivers to wait for official word before coming to schools to pick up their children.
President Barack Obama was about three miles away from the scene at a Democratic Party fundraiser. He was scheduled to deliver remarks around 12:30 p.m. The Secret Service says the President's trip was not impacted by the shooting.
"We are aware of the incident and it is not impacting the visit," said Secret Service Spokesman Edwin M. Donovan at the time. "It’s a local police matter at this point."
Santa Monica College is a two-year community college with approximately 34,000 students. The 38-acre college is open-campus and less than two miles from the beach. The school opened in 1929.
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