UCLA Standoff: Armed Gunman Barricade Situation With Police Plays Out Live On Periscope [Video]
There’s a situation near UCLA that’s playing out live on Periscope. The live and streaming video titled “Unfolding #SWAT standoff near #UCLA” shows police helicopters swarming overhead at an apartment building. There’s also another “UCLA update” Periscope live video about the events unfolding with the standoff and barricade situation playing on another user’s live stream.
On Twitter, news about UCLA and the standoff are constantly flowing into the social media site as more folks learn about the barricade situation.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the cops arrived at 1000 block of Tiverton near UCLA after getting reports of an assault with a deadly weapon by a man whose ex-girlfriend reported to police that her ex-boyfriend was armed. On Twitter, people are following the live footage as it unfolds, with the barricade situation still reportedly in action after the Westwood melee began.
Since it happened near the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday, there’s a special interest on whether UCLA is safe, or if a lockdown situation will occur. The problem began at approximately 4 p.m. local time when the armed man entered his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, and later the woman was able to exit and inform police about her ex-boyfriend being armed.
Certain reports claim that the man in a barricade situation had left the apartment and might still be inside the building in an unknown location. The SWAT team then engaged in a standoff situation with the armed man, and more than 550 people watched the live Periscope footage of the unfolding situation near UCLA.
Meanwhile, while some folks are absorbed in the Democrat debates on TV, others are turning to Twitter and Periscope to get live updates about the gunman situation. Others are tweeting and speculating and asking what’s going on.
“Armed gunman at UCLA Apartments.”
“Anybody know what’s going on in Westwood, CA near UCLA there’s about 5 helicopters flying near there.”
As seen on the Twitter account of Kenny Holmes, UCLA students received an alert about the gunman.
“
#WESTWOOD: Students received this message from@UCLA BruinAlert. NBC4 has confirmed 1 gunman holed up in apt complex”
The fear expressed by Twitter users like Danielle Nicole shows what people are feeling about another potential shooter and armed gunman being loose near or on the UCLA campus.
“Okay look, UCLA is really f****** killing me. Now there’s a gunman on the loose while I’m on campus?”
NBC photojournalist Kenny Holmes also reported on the moment that the SWAT teams surrounded the apartment building near UCLA.
“SWAT units now surrounding the apartment building where police say an armed suspect is holed up.”
As seen in the Periscope video stream, plenty of people are waiting around outside to see how the standoff situation will unfold. With the time nearing 7 p.m. in California, the night sky is darkening as the viewer count of the Periscope live streaming video by Gadi Schwartz has grown to 749 people watching. In the video, folks are pontificating via the comments section on the current standoff events.
When other live reporting video resources fail, or have yet to arrive and cover the UCLA events, Twitter’s Periscope picks up on the live and streaming action from the “citizen journalists” and others who actually use it to record what’s going on. As seen in the above screenshot, Periscope users are commenting that they are also listening to police scanners to discover the status of the UCLA standoff, and wonder if it is being filmed from above the situation as well.
Kevin Tutt noted how the cops are fueling up during the UCLA standoff.
“
@jerseymikes cops downing a local sub during tense hostage situation in@WestwoodVillage“
[Images via Periscope/Twitter]