She was at Santa Monica College on Friday to sign up for summer classes when she heard the first gunshot.
Willa Chen, a first-year chemical engineering student at UCLA, said her mind froze until the reality of the danger set in.
A 23-year-old man opened fire in Santa Monica on Friday, killing four people and wounding several others. The man died Friday evening from gunshots fired by police, said Jacqueline Seabrooks, chief of police at the Santa Monica Police Department, at a press conference today.
Chen said she began to run when someone yelled, “Gun!”
“I couldn’t think until the second bullet flew – then I knew I had to hide,” she said.
This time, a bullet flew past the space between her head and shoulder, missing her head by two to three inches, she said.
Chen immediately ran and hid in the first room she could find, locking the door and waiting there for 20 to 30 minutes with another student. She added that she was worried the shooter might come find her.
Chen said she heard the man who shot at her yelling loudly that he wanted something, but could not make out what it was.
Finally, when it grew quiet again, Chen said her panic began to wane. She came out of hiding and saw several students hiding in the room as well. The students were released after four hours on lockdown.
Chen found out later that Santa Monica College was the last stop in the man’s shooting spree.
Early Friday morning, the man, whose identity remains unconfirmed, allegedly carjacked a woman’s car and instructed her to drive toward Santa Monica College while holding her at gunpoint, Seabrooks said.
Along the way, a woman driving in another car attempted to intervene in the carjacking, said Sgt. Richard Lewis of the Santa Monica Police Department. The man shot her upper body and kept driving with the first woman, Lewis said.
Police responded to a call at 11:52 a.m. after the shooting began at a residence on Yorkshire Avenue in Santa Monica. When police arrived on the scene, they found the house in flames and the woman who had been shot outside.
The woman who was shot is now in fair condition, Lewis said.
The home may have belonged to the suspect’s father, though Lewis said he could not confirm the relationship.
While police were responding to the first call, the suspect allegedly ordered the carjacking victim to stop so he could get out at Cloverfield Boulevard and Pico Boulevard and shoot at buses driving by, Seabrooks said.
Police received reports that shots were fired at a Big Blue Bus at 11:56 a.m. after the bus pulled over. Two bus passengers sustained minor injuries from shattered glass but were released from the hospital on Friday evening, Lewis said.
The alleged shooter then forced the owner of the car to drive to 20th Street and Pearl Street, Lewis said. There, the man allegedly shot at a red Ford Explorer that Carlos Franco, a Santa Monica College employee, was driving.
One of the passengers of the Ford Explorer died at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center on Friday and another is in grave condition, Lewis said.
The man then walked from the scene at 20th Street and Pearl Street to Santa Monica College and shot indiscriminately as he went, Seabrooks said.
The alleged shooter and members of his family attended Santa Monica College, Seabrooks said. He took his last class in 2010, she added.
When he approached the school’s library, the man reportedly encountered a woman standing in the way and killed her, Lewis said.
The woman was carrying a bag of recyclables and was likely middle-aged, although her age has not been confirmed, Lewis said.
The man entered the library and attempted to kill several students hiding in a safe room with objects piled against the door, Seabrooks said.
In the library alone, the man fired 70 rounds, Lewis said.
“Miraculously, all of the students in the room were left unharmed,” she added.
Two Santa Monica Police Department officers and one Santa Monica College Police Department officer shot and killed the suspected shooter in the library at 12:05 p.m., Seabrooks said.
After the shooting, police found the man’s discarded backpack, which contained two guns ready to use and one upper part of a rifle, Seabrooks said. In total, there were about 1300 rounds ready to be fired in the bag, Seabrooks said.
Seabrooks said the shooting was likely premeditated, given the amount of ready ammunition that the man was carrying and the nylon mesh vest he was wearing, though it was not effective at protecting him from bullets.
The police will not reveal the identities of those who died, including the suspect, until their next of kin are notified, Lewis said.
Police responded to an incident at the same Yorkshire Avenue residence in 2006 involving the same man. The man was a juvenile in 2006, though, so Lewis said they could not release his name.
“We want to extend our condolences to the friends and family of victims of this cowardly murder,” Seabrooks said.
Officials will send out a press release with names of the victims, as well as other information about the suspect, next week.