LOS ANGELES - Police took a man into custody Friday night inside the Los Angeles Times building after it was locked down because of a shooting-threat report, the newspaper said.
The man was detained by police and removed from the building less than an hour after the threat report, the newspaper said. The man does not work for the newspaper but is connected to Vxi Global Solutions, which rents office space in the building.
Officers searched the building but found no weapon, and the lockdown was lifted by 9 p.m. Los Angeles time, police Lt. Lonnie Benson said.
Police said the suspect is 28 years old but did not immediately release his name.
A radio call went out at7:26 p.m. notifying police that a text message sent from inside the building said there might be someone “about to start shooting,” Detective Gus Villanueva said. The building is across the street from Los Angeles Police Department headquarters.
The newspaper reported that the man said he had been depressed, didn’t mind killing someone, showed a co-worker a bag of bullets and said he didn’t want to go to jail.
Several businesses and government agencies rent space from the Los Angeles Times, including Vxi Global Solutions, which provides customer service and technical support by phone for other businesses. A message left for a company representatives was not immediately returned.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 04/19/2014