Robbery Suspect Eludes Capture, Causes a Lockdown and Inspires Internet Memes at Cal State Fullerton

By Jasmine Lowe on December 13, 2012

SWAT officers, police chases and cop cars swarmed the Cal State Fullerton campus yesterday during a campus wide lockdown, which lasted for eight hours, searching for an armed robbery suspect. It only makes sense that with all of the panic from parents and concerned citizens the students studying for their finals at the University would take to Twitter and Instagram to post memes.

Hilarious memes and ridiculous advice from concerned loved ones flooded the Internet as the search zeroed on Steven G. Mihaylo Hall, a 200,000-square-foot college of business and economics building, for seven hours where one of two suspects who remain on the loose was last spotted.

“The advice my brother gives me while I’m on #lockdown #csuf,” tweeted @nalleyx3. She posted a photo of his text message, which suggested, “Keep your eyes peeled and your pencils sharp in case you need to stick someone.”

The fugitive and four other accomplices were involved in an armed robbery of a jewelry store in Moreno Valley which occurred 3 p.m. that day. Witnesses say that the group of robbers shot an employee, and then led police on a wild car chase that spanned four counties. The group stopped at Cal State Fullerton forty-seven minutes later where two of the men were captured, two others fled on foot, one reportedly ran into Mihaylo Hall, and the fifth was caught in Watts shortly after.

Understandably after waiting on campus in classrooms and the library many students became restless and hungry and began to walk off the campus, though they were not officially released.

“It’s just getting to the point where they’re hungry and they’re letting themselves out,” Fullerton Police Sgt. Jeff Stuart said. He said police did not have enough personnel to keep people inside the buildings.

The SWAT officers searched portions of the campus for the suspect, but he was never found. Instead the students were left pictures of themselves watching themselves on the TV news, and numerous tweets and memes inspired by an unfortunate event.

 

 

This one’s probably my favorite. ‘Danielle Fishel played ‘Topanga’ on Boy Meets World’ and goes to CSUF.

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