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Lockdown lifted at Valencia college: Someone mistook tree branches for a rifle

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Authorities lifted a lockdown Wednesday at College of the Canyons in Valencia after they determined that a report of a woman with a rifle was actually a woman with some tree branches.

“Better safe, than sorry,” the Santa Clarita Valley station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said on Twitter.

The incident began about 4:35 p.m., when someone reported seeing a woman “getting a rifle” out of a tree and walking on campus, the Sheriff’s Department said. About 2,000 students and 200 staffers were on lockdown for about two hours while deputies searched the area.

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Deputies did not find anything suspicious during their search of campus buildings and determined that a woman “took tree branches from a tree.” The campus was deemed safe and the lockdown was lifted about 6:40 p.m.

The community college had advised people to shelter in place.

“Stay off campus if you are not already here,” the school tweeted.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek

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