Students and staff on the Riverside City College campus were asked to shelter in place Tuesday due to a police standoff with a man armed with a knife who was barricaded in a storm drain.
The campus was locked down at about midday after witnesses reported a man armed with a knife and possibly a set of brass knuckles. Riverside police and sheriff's deputies responded to the initial report and encountered the man, described as homeless, in a water canal or tunnel, according to Riverside Police.
"They eventually found him but the man took off running and eluded them for a bit," said Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback.
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About an hour later, officers found the man again, but he ran onto the campus and barricaded himself in a storm drain. Still armed with the knife, the man refused to surrender to police.
"As RCC officers went to physically contact him, the man ran further into the storm drain and eventually escaped through a manhole cover, but they did contact and arrest him a short time later behind a business off campus," Railsback said.
The lockdown was lifted early Tuesday afternoon after police gave officials an "all clear" notice, the school said.
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No injuries were reported. There were no reports of threats made to anyone on the campus in the 4800 block of Magnolia Avenue.
Located in downtown Riverside, the college serves about 30,000 students annually at its 108-acre campus.
