Police: Online Student Scheduled For In-Person Class Threatened To 'Shoot Up' Citrus College, Sought Suicide By Cop

GLENDORA (CBSLA) – An online student at Citrus College was arrested Tuesday after police say he made a shooting threat against the community college.

Glendora police received a 911 call from a man threatening to "shoot up" the school, located at 1000 W. Foothill Blvd. in Glendora, according to Glendora Police Sgt. Shawna Celello.

Once the threat was deemed credible, the campus was placed on lockdown around 11:30 a.m. and students who were not on campus were urged to stay away or to shelter in place on campus until an all-clear was issued.

Authorities arrived on scene and found the suspect's car located in a campus parking lot and notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff's bomb squad, Celello said.

Less than an hour later, a room-to-room search was underway across campus, which lasted for several hours.

The suspect, later identified as Terrell Lee Bennett, 30, of Chino, surrendered to authorities around 3:45 p.m, according to Celello. The lockdown was finally lifted before 6 p.m.

Police say Bennett was an online student at Citrus who was scheduled for an in-person class Tuesday. Based on statements made by Bennett, suicide-by-cop appears to be the motive behind the threat, Celello said, but detectives will investigate further for additional motives.

No explosive devices were found on campus.

There were no reports of injuries.

Another lockdown was put in place and then lifted at nearby Azusa Pacific University.

Images were posted on social media showing armed law enforcement personnel on scene at Citrus.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Wire services contributed to this report.)