UCLA gunman was a former doctoral student, police say

A Los Angeles Police spokeswoman has identified the gunman in Wednesday’s apparent murder-suicide on the University of California-Los Angeles campus as Mainak Sarkar.

On Wednesday, police found the bodies of two men in an office at the engineering school, one of whom was the shooter, the LA Police Department said. The other was 39-year-old professor William Klug. a married father of two who colleagues described as brilliant and kind, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Sakar was a former doctoral student at the school whose 2013 doctoral dissertation thanked Klug for his support. But more recently, he had expressed anger at Klug on social media, calling him a “very sick person” and his “enemy.”

The school was on lockdown for two hours Wednesday morning as police searched for the gunman, and people were told to shelter in place.

BruinAlert: Shooting at Engineering 4. Go to secure location and deny entry (lockdown) now!

— UCLA BruinAlert (@UCLABruinAlert) June 1, 2016

Earlier, the campus alert Twitter account advised students, faculty and staff to stay away from the building due to police activity.

Police searched for the shooter “classroom by classroom,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Police are searching classroom by classroom for the UCLA shooter. https://t.co/zEpW2vpKH3 pic.twitter.com/2d9ZvNFUkn

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 1, 2016

Students found shelter where they could. According to Los Angeles Times reporter Irfan Khan, his daughter was “hiding in a restroom.”

I am fighting traffic and emotions to reach UCLA. My daughter is hiding in a restroom.

— Irfan Khan (@latfoto) June 1, 2016