LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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 reported.
A man in his 20s was detained by police and removed from the building less than an hour after the threat report, the Times said. The man does not work for the newspaper but is connected to Vxi Global Solutions, which rents office space in the building.
A radio call went out at 7:26 p.m. notifying police that a text message sent from inside the building said there may be someone “about to start shooting,” Detective Gus Villanueva told The Associated Press. The Times building is across the street from LAPD headquarters.
Police have not verified whether a gun was recovered or any shots were fired.
The Times reports 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.
Employees throughout the building were placed on lockdown and those who had left were not allowed to return, the Times said.
The building at 1st and Spring streets has been headquarters of the Los Angeles Times since 1935.
Several other businesses and government agencies rent space from the Times in the building, including Vxi Global Solutions, which provides customer service and technical support by phone for other businesses. A message left for company representatives by the AP was not immediately returned.
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