Student In Custody After Threat At Cal State Long Beach

LONG BEACH, CA — A student was in custody Monday in connection with a threat directed at Cal State Long Beach, which prompted a shelter-in-place on campus.

Campus police and university officials received a "credible threat" and issued the alert about 3:45 p.m., according to Jeff Bliss, the university's executive director of media and digital news.

School officials later said the threat was in an email that was shared with university officials about 2:10 p.m.

The female student, who had an appointment at a campus resource center, was located and taken into custody, officials said.

Campus police gave the all-clear at 4:23 p.m., reporting that shelter in place orders had been lifted and the sole suspect was in custody, campus officials said.

"There is no ongoing threat, and the campus is open for normal operations," according to a campus police tweet.

The lockdown of the campus was done out of an abundance of caution, Bliss said.

Campus police called it an isolated incident.

A change.org petition urging university officials to upgrade all doors was started in response to the scare. The petition notes that people barricaded themselves in rooms whose doors did not lock or only locked from the outside.

Pictures of doors blockaded with desks, chairs and an overhead projector were shared on Twitter.

"Students also tried to tie the doors together with cables or other items they had nearby. This is unacceptable and unsafe for CSULB students. This petition is designed by a CSULB student who agrees that doors need to have locks (and be able to be locked) in the event of such threats and/or school lock-downs," the petition read.

There was no immediate response to telephone calls and an email sent to Bliss late Monday night seeking a response to the petition.

City News Service contributed to this post