{ "id": "2019-05-01-long-beach-city-college-replica-gun-lockdown", "slug": "long-beach-city-college-replica-gun-lockdown-2019-05-01", "institution": { "name": "Long Beach City College", "shortName": "LBCC", "state": "CA", "type": "community-college", "alertSystemName": "LBCC Emergency Alert", "enrollment": 24000 }, "incident": { "date": "2019-05-01", "type": "armed-person", "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification", "headline": "Reported gun prompting a lockdown turned out to be a replica brought for a class", "headlinePublic": "Reported gun prompting a lockdown turned out to be a replica brought for a class", "summary": "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](https://lbpost.com/news/crime/lbcc-campus-gun-lockdown-police) issued shortly after 10 a.m. Police responded around 10:20 a.m. PDT and determined the weapon was a [replica firearm a student had brought as part of a class](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/toy-gun-for-class-project-triggers-lockdown-at-long-beach-city-college/). The shelter-in-place order was lifted shortly after 11 a.m. with no injuries and no crime committed.", "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.", "resolution": "unfounded" }, "alerts": [ { "sequence": 1, "type": "initial", "timestamp": "2019-05-01T10:32:00-07:00", "timestampApprox": "Shortly after 10 a.m. PDT on May 1, 2019", "channel": "sms", "verbatimText": "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.", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "sourceUrl": "https://lbpost.com/news/crime/lbcc-campus-gun-lockdown-police", "sourceDescription": "Long Beach Post quoting the LBCC Emergency Alert text", "annotations": [ "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." ], "characterCount": 297 }, { "sequence": 2, "type": "all-clear", "timestamp": "2019-05-01T11:05:00-07:00", "timestampApprox": "Shortly after 11 a.m. PDT on May 1, 2019", "channel": "sms", "verbatimText": "", "isVerbatimConfirmed": false, "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Long Beach Post and KTLA reporting that the shelter-in-place was lifted shortly after 11 a.m.", "annotations": [] } ], "context": "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](https://patch.com/california/longbeach-ca/possible-shooter-long-beach-city-college-reports) and responded around 10:20 a.m. PDT, 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](https://lbccviking.com/2019/05/replica-gun-used-in-class-production-shuts-down-pcc) that the gun was a prop tied to a class, and [KTLA confirmed](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/toy-gun-for-class-project-triggers-lockdown-at-long-beach-city-college/) 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.", "keyFindings": [ "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." ], "sources": [ { "title": "Fake gun sparks lockdown at Long Beach City College campus - Long Beach Post", "url": "https://lbpost.com/news/crime/lbcc-campus-gun-lockdown-police", "type": "local-media" }, { "title": "Toy Gun for Class Project Triggers Lockdown at Long Beach City College - KTLA", "url": "https://ktla.com/news/local-news/toy-gun-for-class-project-triggers-lockdown-at-long-beach-city-college/", "type": "local-media" }, { "title": "Replica Gun Triggers Long Beach City College Lockdown - Patch", "url": "https://patch.com/california/longbeach-ca/possible-shooter-long-beach-city-college-reports", "type": "local-media" }, { "title": "Replica gun used in class production shuts down PCC - LBCC Viking News", "url": "https://lbccviking.com/2019/05/replica-gun-used-in-class-production-shuts-down-pcc", "type": "student-newspaper" } ], "confidence": "medium", "tags": [ "armed-person", "replica-gun", "shelter-in-place", "lockdown", "community-college", "california", "emergency-notification", "unfounded" ], "dateAdded": "2026-05-28", "lastUpdated": "2026-05-28", "addedBy": "ingestion" }