UCLA Campus In Mourning Following Deadly Shooting
LOS ANGELES CBSLA.com) — To the naked eye, it almost appears that it's business as usual at UCLA.
But CBS2's Amy Johnson (@AmyJohnsonNews) reports, if you look closer it's clear that many students are still deeply affected by Wednesday's fatal shooting of an engineering professor on campus by one of his former students who also turned a gun on himself.
Emotions are still raw for some at UCLA.
"It's hard to just go back to normal when somebody was murdered on our campus yesterday." said Nina Alavi.
She fought back tears as she spoke about professor Bill Klug.
"He's a member of our family and I just wanted to leave a message. And since he's an aerospace engineer I kind of wanted to go off on that, [to say] now he's lying up to Heaven."
She and her friend Marissa Afetian started started putting up posters with messages of love and support for Klug on the Bear at the Bruin Plaza.
Others have begun doing the same.
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"I think it's emotional for everyone, especially for me, I didn't think this would happen at UCLA. I feel so protected here. It was just a big shock to all of us that this would even happen," said Afetian.
Crews worked at fixing doors in the engineering building where the shooting happened -- it appears some of the doors were kicked in. Many students struggled to lock doors yesterday when news spread of a gunman on campus.
"Wwe're really mourning the loss of professor Klug, It;s really, really sad. It reminds you how vulnerable some of these professors are during office hours when they're seeing these students alone. It would be nice to have more security in place," said Lisa Monahan, a UCLA employee.
Counselors are in place for students, faculty and staff struggling to cope with the tragedy.
"I thought it was going to be a mass shooting. When you see 'shooting' in a message, nowadays, you automatically think the worst," said Alavi.
Both of these students acknowledge how frightened they were
"I had a little meltdown. I saw so many cop cars and you don't think it's a real thing until you see more and more people responding to it. It's just a very scary situation to be in," said Afetian.
A vigil is planned in professor Klug's honor on campus Thursday evening. School officials also told Johnson he would be mourned at next week's commencement ceremonies.
On Thursday, University of California President Janet Napolitano issued the following statement:
"Our hearts are with UCLA and all those affected by the senseless violence that took the life of a loved and respected faculty member in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Professor William S. Klug. No campus should ever suffer an act of violence such as the one that claimed Professor Klug's life. In responding with courage and resilience, UCLA's students, faculty and staff continue to demonstrate the strength of the UCLA community, and we send our wholehearted support as the campus recovers from this tragedy."
