Covel Commons was evacuated around 11:35 a.m. Thursday morning after a pipe was found in a fire extinguisher box, but declared safe about two hours later after a bomb squad examined the object and determined it was not a threat.
The pipe was located in a fire extinguisher box in the loading dock of Covel Commons, and the fire extinguisher that should have been in the box was missing, said university police spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein.
An employee called university police around 10 a.m. and a UCPD officer determined that the object appeared suspicious because it was capped at both ends and resembled a pipe bomb, said UCPD Capt. John Adams.
The Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Squad arrived at about 11:05 a.m. and reopened the building after investigating the pipe, Adams said.
As a precautionary measure, the immediate exterior of Covel Commons and the nearby Sunset Village parking lot was blocked off. Traffic from Sunset Village to De Neve Plaza was also redirected.
Dozens of people stood outside Covel Commons after the evacuation, including housing administrators, dining services workers, students and prospective students and their families.
Jaime Castaneda, a first-year undeclared student, said he was in a discussion session on the second floor of Covel Commons when the class was interrupted around 11:45 a.m. by a man who calmly told them they needed to leave.
“A guy walked in told us we had to leave now and he didn’t really explain, so people just started to leave,” Castaneda said. “They went towards Delta Terrace, and I wanted to go back to my dorm but people said to just keep moving, so we did.”