UCLA Students Had to Engineer Door Locks During Shooting

Slain professor remembered as brilliant, kind
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 2, 2016 3:32 AM CDT
Updated Jun 2, 2016 6:26 AM CDT
UCLA Shooting May Have Been Over Grades
A UCLA engineering building classroom door that was barricaded during the school lockdown.   (Pranasha Shrestha via AP)

The victim in Wednesday's murder-suicide at UCLA has been identified as mechanical engineering professor William Klug—and he may have been killed by one of his own students. The gunman has not been identified, but a KNX reporter tweeted that a law enforcement source told her the gunman was "apparently despondent about his grades." Police, however, have not confirmed a motive. The coroner's office says the shooter is a man in his 30s from out of state, per the New York Daily News. Colleagues describe Klug, who had two young children, as both brilliant and kind, the Los Angeles Times reports. "You cannot ask for a nicer, gentler, sweeter, and more supportive guy than William Klug," says Alan Garfinkel, a professor who worked with Klug on a computer-generated heart. Another development to emerge: Engineering students had to create their own door locks during the ordeal.

The Wednesday morning shooting caused confusion and panic on campus, the Daily Bruin reports, with rumors spreading about up to four shooters and dozens of victims. But despite warnings, some professors allowed students to enter and leave classes after a lockdown was announced, and students in the engineering building where the shooting took place were alarmed to discover that their classroom doors did not lock. The AP reports that the students put their engineering skills to work, improvising their own locking mechanisms using belts, chairs, and water bottles. A university spokesman says officials are troubled by reports of doors that couldn't be locked during a lockdown and they plan to review security issues. (More UCLA stories.)

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