Campus Alert Archive
Citrus

Six Hours Until Suicide-By-Cop: An Online Student's 11:20 AM Phone Call Locked Down Two Glendora Campuses

CAthreat of violenceemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On January 15, 2019, Terrell Lee Bennett, a 30-year-old online Citrus College student called Glendora police at approximately 11:20 AM PST and threatened to 'shoot up' the campus, prompting a six-hour lockdown at Citrus College and its neighbor Azusa Pacific University. Bennett surrendered peacefully at 3:42 PM and the lockdown was lifted at 5:58 PM. Police later said his calls appeared to be a suicide-by-cop attempt.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Citrus College
Community College · CA
~12,000 studentsCitrus Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTTwitter/X
Verified verbatimCitrus College Twitter quoted by NBC Los Angeles and Newsweek161 chars
If you are not on campus, stay away. Go to the nearest room, turn off lights, lock door, and remain quiet. Remain locked down until an All Clear has been issued.
Verbatim per NBC Los Angeles and Newsweek quoting Citrus College's Twitter posts at the start of the lockdown
Issued after Glendora police received a phone call from Terrell Lee Bennett threatening to 'shoot up' Citrus College
The instruction sequence — stay away, locate shelter room, lock down, await all-clear — became a template adopted at neighboring colleges
UPDATETwitter/X
Approximate reconstruction154 chars
Citrus Alert: Lockdown remains in effect. Glendora Police are searching the area. Stay locked down. Do not leave classrooms or offices. Updates to follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from contemporaneous KTLA and CC Clarion reporting on the multi-hour lockdown
Glendora Police, LA County Sheriff and APU public safety coordinated the response
Azusa Pacific University was also placed on lockdown as a precaution because of its proximity
ALL CLEARTwitter/X
Verified verbatimCC Clarion (Citrus College student newspaper) and The Chimes (APU student newspaper / SACMedia) both directly quote this as the verbatim Citrus Alert tweet posted at approximately 6 PM PST on January 15, 2019162 chars
Citrus Alert: 1/15/19 6 pm Lockdown lifted. College closed. Evening classes are canceled. Check https://t.co/SDsCLrYjko for updates about Wed. 1/16/19 operations.
Verbatim text confirmed: CC Clarion (Citrus College's student newspaper) and The Chimes/SACMedia both quote this exact Citrus Alert tweet lifting the lockdown at approximately 6 PM PST on January 15, 2019.
The t.co URL shortener link (https://t.co/SDsCLrYjko) is preserved as part of the verbatim text -- it appeared in the original tweet and directed recipients to the college's emergency operations page.
The date-stamp format '1/15/19 6 pm' embedded in the tweet body is an unusual convention, providing a permanent record of the lift time within the message itself.
The two-hour gap between Bennett's surrender at 3:42 PM and the lockdown lift at 5:58 PM reflects the time required to sweep and clear all campus buildings.
Context

Background

At approximately 11:20 AM PST on Tuesday, January 15, 2019, Terrell Lee Bennett, a 30-year-old online Citrus College student from Chino, called the Glendora Police Department and threatened to 'shoot up' the Citrus College campus. He called again around 3:40 PM. Citrus College and neighboring Azusa Pacific University both went on hours-long lockdown while Glendora Police, the LA County Sheriff and APU public safety coordinated the response. Bennett surrendered peacefully at 3:42 PM. Police later told CBS Los Angeles that his calls appeared to be a 'suicide-by-cop' attempt — a pattern in which suicidal individuals provoke armed police response in the hope of being killed. The lockdown was lifted at 5:58 PM. Bennett was charged with making criminal threats.
Analysis

Key Findings

Bennett was an online student scheduled to attend an in-person class that day, illustrating how distance learners can become potential campus threats
Police characterized the calls as a suicide-by-cop attempt, a category of threat that traditional active-shooter protocols may not address
Two campuses (Citrus and APU) locked down for nearly six hours over a single phoned-in threat — demonstrating regional cascade effects of threats in dense college areas
Outcome
Bennett surrendered without further incident at 3:42 PM PST and was charged with making criminal threats. The lockdown was lifted at 5:58 PM. Students were safely evacuated and released. APU also lifted its concurrent lockdown that evening.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Student Arrested After Phone Threat Prompts Lockdowns at Citrus College, Azusa Pacific University (KTLA)
    ktla.com
  2. News
    Threat Prompts Lockdowns at Citrus College, Azusa Pacific University (NBC Los Angeles)
    nbclosangeles.com
  3. News
    Suspect In Citrus College Shooting Threat Arrested (Patch)
    patch.com
  4. News
    Online Student Scheduled For In-Person Class Threatened To 'Shoot Up' Citrus College, Sought Suicide By Cop (CBS Los Angeles)
    cbsnews.com
  5. Student Paper
    Citrus on lockdown after suspicious threat (CC Clarion)
    ccclarion.com
Tags
threat-of-violencelockdowncaliforniacommunity-collegecitrus-collegesuicide-by-coponline-studentazusa-pacificregional-cascade
Added May 2026Updated June 2026Via ingestion