Category: News – Features

Students counter Westboro Baptist Church protest with show of solidarity for LGBTQ community Story by Tygre Patchell-Evans | Photos by Mia Duncans Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” blared from the back gates of Loyola Marymount University as students gathered Monday morning along Loyola Boulevard to counter the homophobic hate speech of the Westboro Baptist Church, the inflammatory religious extremist group infamous for protesting the funerals of American military service members. The students beat Westboro to its own protest, playing music and chanting affirmations of LGBTQ acceptance before the handful of picketers arrived and until they departed about 20...

Less than 24 hours after the deadly mass shooting that targeted college students at a popular Thousand Oaks nightspot, LAPD officers responded to reports of a shooter on the Loyola Marymount University campus — false reports, triggered by a prank. The initial call to police just after 5:30 p.m. Friday came from a parent whose son had texted her there was an active shooter on the campus, said Lt. Randy Goddard, commanding officer of the LAPD’s Pacific Detectives Division. Six other calls for service followed — each of them reporting third-party information from text messages and social media posts....