A false alarm was called at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson Thursday morning when police responded to a 911 call of a suspect walking around campus with what witnesses thought was an assault rifle.
After a brief campus lockdown and large police response, at around 9 a.m. the suspect was found to be an ROTC student carrying a nonfunctional training weapon.
At around 11 a.m. Thursday – about two hours after the Dominguez Hills incident was first reported – CSULB’s University Police sent out a mass e-mail informing the campus community of the situation. The e-mail also noted that no shots were fired and no one was injured.
According to Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander, CSULB’s University Police were notified of the suspected shooter 10 minutes after Dominguez Hills police were aware of the situation on their campus.
“The best communication we have is the security personnel – the University Police on both sides,” Alexander said regarding the means of communication between CSULB and other universities in the area.
Addressing the potential for false alarms at CSULB, Alexander said the best kind of prevention is remaining informed of things on campus.
“Information is critical” in this type of situation, Alexander said. He added by saying that the school doesn’t want to misinform students, but also wants students to remain alert and aware of what is happening on campus.
Interim Chief of Police Stan Skipworth also emphasized the need for campus community members to be aware of their surroundings. If something of a similar nature were to happen at CSULB, Skipworth said he “would ask a student to notify campus police by dialing 9-1-1 immediately.”
He added that students should give police a description and general location of the individual or individuals so police can help determine if there is indeed a threat to the campus community.
Tobey Humphries, the ROTC captain at CSULB, said CSULB’s ROTC has open communication with the University Police that he said helps prevent such confusion from happening here.
“All [events] are cleared through campus security,” Humphries said. “We have a lot of precaution. The biggest thing to realize is we work with University Police.”
Skipworth said he is “proud of the relationship with the ROTC” program and campus police. The program is “most diligent” about informing police well in advance ahead of time of drills and other activities, which helps avoid “causes of concern or alarm,” Skipworth said.
Humphries said it still important for the campus to remain aware of the surroundings.
“The biggest thing to look for is any individual with a firearm,” Humphries said. He continued by saying such a person should be reported to the University Police, even if the person is in army fatigues.
“Anyone can get fatigues,” Humphries said.
An “active shooter drill” is scheduled to occur on campus within a month’s time to help the campus community and police be prepared in the instance of gun violence. The drill will be similar to fire drills, but in the case of a shooter coming to campus, students, faculty and staff are instead encouraged to stay inside, seek cover and avoid specific areas determined to be threatening.
Alexander said the campus community will be notified of the drill once the planning is finalized.
“Right now the details and logistics of how that drill will work are being put together by the professionals, our professionals,” Alexander said. “The challenge is making sure everybody understands what it is, when it’s going to happen and exactly what’s going to happen from it, so there’s not a degree of panic.”
Of incidences of gun violence on campuses, Alexander said, “These are new things for universities, and our police are ready. But what we want to do is make sure that the campus understands what it means.”
Tiffany Rider also contributed to this report.
