LBCC

A Theater Prop Gun Locked Down a Whole Campus

Wednesday, May 1, 2019CAarmed personemergency notificationmedium confidence

UnfoundedNo evidence of an actual threat was found. The institutional response is documented because the alert communication is identical to what would occur during a real incident.

On the morning of May 1, 2019, a report of a person with a gun at Long Beach City College's Pacific Coast Campus prompted a shelter-in-place lockdown issued shortly after 10 a.m. Police responded around 10:20 a.m. and determined the weapon was a replica firearm a student had brought as part of a class. The shelter-in-place order was lifted shortly after 11 a.m. with no injuries and no crime committed.

Alerts: 2
Response: —
Killed: —
Injured: —

Institution

Long Beach City College

Community College · CA

~24,000 studentsLBCC Emergency Alert

Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMSMay 1, 2019, 5:32 PM MST

Verified verbatimLong Beach Post quoting the LBCC Emergency Alert text297 chars

LBCC Emergency Alert: There is a possible suspect with a gun at PCC. Take safe shelter in nearest room, and lock door. Silence cells, call 911 if you have info about suspect and if safe. Remain in place until the police of LBCC officials give the "all clear" sign, or give an updated notification.

The phrase 'until the police of LBCC officials' is preserved exactly as published; it appears to be a typo for 'until the police or LBCC officials,' an authenticity marker in the alert text.

'PCC' refers to LBCC's Pacific Coast Campus on Pacific Coast Highway, not Pasadena City College; the abbreviation is internal shorthand.

The alert instructed recipients to lock doors, silence cells, and call 911 only if safe, a standard run-hide-fight shelter-in-place script.

ALL CLEARSMSMay 1, 2019, 6:05 PM MST+33 min

Approximate reconstruction196 chars

LBCC Emergency Alert: All clear. The reported weapon was a replica firearm brought to campus for a class. There is no threat. The shelter in place has been lifted and normal operations may resume.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Multiple outlets reported the shelter-in-place was lifted shortly after 11 a.m. once police confirmed the replica firearm; the exact wording of the all-clear was not published, so this text is a reconstruction.

This message explicitly lifts the shelter-in-place restriction, making it a true all-clear roughly 30 minutes after the initial alert.

Context

Background

Long Beach City College is a large two-year community college with two main campuses; the incident occurred at the Pacific Coast Campus (PCC) on Pacific Coast Highway near Orange Avenue. On May 1, 2019, Long Beach police received a 'person with a gun' call and responded around 10:20 a.m., while the college pushed an LBCC Emergency Alert shortly after 10 a.m. instructing students and faculty to take shelter and lock doors. The LBCC Viking News student newspaper reported that the gun was a prop tied to a class, and KTLA confirmed it was a replica firearm a student brought for a course. Long Beach Police Department spokesperson Jen De Prez said there was never any danger to the community. The case is a textbook example of a community-college emergency notification triggered by a misidentified prop weapon, with the alert text explicitly framing the shelter-in-place as conditional on a later all-clear or update.

Analysis

Key Findings

LBCC issued a verbatim-quoted shelter-in-place alert shortly after 10 a.m., including run-hide-fight instructions and an explicit conditional to wait for an all-clear

The published alert contains a preserved typo, 'the police of LBCC officials,' an authenticity marker

The weapon was a replica firearm brought for a class; no crime was committed and no one was detained, making the report unfounded

Only the initial alert text was directly quoted; the all-clear is an honest reconstruction based on reporting that the order lifted shortly after 11 a.m.

Outcome

Long Beach Police confirmed the weapon was a replica firearm a student brought to campus for a class; no one was taken into custody because no crime was committed. The shelter-in-place was lifted shortly after 11 a.m.

Provenance

Sources

News
Fake gun sparks lockdown at Long Beach City College campus - Long Beach Post
lbpost.com
News
Toy Gun for Class Project Triggers Lockdown at Long Beach City College - KTLA
ktla.com
News
Replica Gun Triggers Long Beach City College Lockdown - Patch
patch.com
Student Paper
Film professor carrying prop gun caused campus lockdown - LBCC Viking News
lbccviking.com

Alert Sequence

Background

Key Findings

Sources

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