BREAKING: Assailant on roof of Doheny Memorial Library in custody

The library was evacuated at 4:43 p.m. PST

An assailant has taken to the roof of the Doheny Memorial Library. The Los Angeles Police Department has evacuated the Doheny Library at 4:43 p.m. PST. Just a half hour earlier, the Department of Public Safety put out a Trojan Alert advising students to avoid the area. The University Park campus is now being swarmed by LAPD helicopters. Neither LAPD nor DPS have confirmed the source of the police activity.

5:16 p.m.: ABC7 reports that the suspect is “barricaded.”

5:21 p.m.: Daily Trojan reports that a female Japanese international student reported an assault in the library at 3:35 p.m. The status of the victim is unknown, as an unknown stretcher has been removed from the building. DT reports: “Upon arrival, Police initially had difficulty detaining the victim and an officer suffered a nonfatal injury to his hand in the process, according to dispatch. The suspect was described as a 5’8″ black male wearing purple, roughly 180 pounds between 35 and 40 years old.”

5:35 p.m.: DPS now says now weapons involved. Suspect positively identified, had engaged in “lewd behavior.”

5:33 p.m.: DPS reports the incident is fully resolved, “update on reopening of library to follow shortly.”

5:53 p.m.: ABC7 reports that the suspect was not a student.

5:57 p.m.: DPS Chief John Thomas told Annenberg Media that the confrontation between the student and the assailant occurred in the basement level of Doheny. The victim sustained no injuries, escaped and called DPS. Thomas said that “the search was precautionary.”

We’ll continue to update this post as the story develops…

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