Please see end of post for updated info…
Original Post: 5:48 p.m.: The campus of California State Fullerton is on lockdown this evening as officers search for suspects who are believed to be involved in a Moreno Valley jewelry heist earlier today. According to a report in the San Bernardino Sun, half a dozen suspects were involved in the crime. One was arrested this afternoon in Los Angeles, while five others were stopped in Fullerton. One of those five was arrested at the scene, while the four others, who are believed to be armed and dangerous, reportedly fled the scene.
According to the Orange County Register, however, the suspect arrested in Los Angeles apparently jumped out of same car that was stopped in Fullerton, where he committed a car-jacking near Chapman Ave. and Commonwealth Ave., before being arrested in L.A.
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The Weekly's editorial assistant, Lindsey Hastings, received notice of the lockdown after leaving campus and arriving at work–via a college-generated text message. “As soon as I got to the office I received a text from the school saying that everyone is to shelter in place (basically hide under tables and turn off all the lights in classrooms) because a suspicious person is on campus,” she reports. “Ten minutes later I received a message that everyone should evacuate the campus. Then a phone call that if you are sheltering in place, stay in place, and if you are outside evacuate.”
Stay safe, Titans! And stay tuned for further updates as the story unfolds.
Update: Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m.: Here's the latest official update from campus officials regarding a pending police SWAT operation:
“CSUF Update: Tonight's classes are cancelled. If you are sheltered in place, please remain calm and stay where you are. If you are outside of a building please exit the campus. Police are searching the campus for a possible robbery suspect.”
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).