Emergency evacuations were carried out at the UCLA residence halls on campus after the university received a phoned-in Bomb Threat at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. The police were informed of the threat call at the Westwood campus. Shortly after the call, the university officials sent out the first UCLA Bruin Alert to all the dorm residents at 10 p.m., informing them about the threat. Shortly afterward, a second alert was sent out informing the students to head back to their dormitories after the threat was confirmed to be unfounded.
UCLA receives bomb alert phone call
According to Capt. Bob Leinweber, the Los Angeles police captain, they were warned of the bomb at via a phone call to the campus’ police station’s dispatch center. Following the call, over a dozen halls at the UCLA Westwood campus were evacuated for safety and search. The law enforcement officials subsequently searched the center with the help of four bomb detection dog squads. Just before midnight, it was known for certain that there were no explosives hidden in the campus.
Leinweber stated that the police have “concluded the search” after finding nothing. Just after midnight, the UCLA Bruin system shared that dorm residents of the De Neve Plaza and the Dykstra Hall could return to their dormitories.
The alert also stated that the other students would be allowed to go into their residence halls as and when they were deemed safe.
Chaos ensues after bomb threat
The students were asked to gather at the Drake stadium and erupted into cheers after it was announced that they could re-enter the residence halls. According to 19-year old UCLA student Lemoine Dillon, hundreds of people were taken to the stadium while the others were directed to the nearby tennis court.
Dillon, who is staying in the Rieber Vista residence hall had enrolled herself in a summer pre-dental course at the university.
According to Dillon, a range of residents was staying in the dorms at the time of evacuation. From students enrolled in a summer course like hers to children who came to attend sports camps and summer programs at the campus were seen evacuating the rooms.
She also stated that many of these kids got confused and broke into tears when the dorms were being evacuated.Dillon said that the whole situation was “really hectic” as people were clueless. After a span of 30 minutes following the first emergency alert, a second update was sent out notifying the evacuated residents that the “situation is still active."
