Calif. robbery spurs chase, long campus lockdown

Police believe at least one of the suspects fled into Mihaylo Hall, where some occupants were evacuated. SWAT officers cleared the hall room by room.

"We saw all these cops coming through with — I think they were like AKs or something. They were pretty big guns," student Nate Chu told KABC. "And they eventually told us we had to leave the campus."

Students were alerted about the situation via text message at about 4 p.m. and told to stay where they were with doors locked. They were notified by cellphone, email and public address system as each building was cleared.

The lockdown ended about 11 p.m., Brocke said. No students were hurt but some were treated for anxiety and one, a diabetic, needed medication, he added.

One person being chased carjacked a silver sedan, possibly from a Fullerton student, and drove wildly through rush-hour traffic on state Route 91 until crashing the car nearly 30 miles away in the Watts area of Los Angeles County, authorities said.

The man then sprinted across a lawn and hopped a fence near a housing project. He surrendered to dozens of officers on a baseball diamond at a recreation center where Beck was giving away toys to hundreds of young children.

"He picked the wrong rec center to run into today," Los Angeles police Cmdr. Andy Smith said.

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Associated Press writer Chris Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.