Suspect detained, SJSU shelter-in-place lifted after campus gun scare
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - San Jose State University has lifted a shelter-in-place and a suspect has been detained after reports of a possible gunman on campus Thursday evening.
Police remain at the scene and are still investigating the incident, but at 8:18 p.m., University police lifted the order.
As of 8:21 p.m., San Jose police said that the person they detained did not have a gun on him and officers were searching for a gun. Police later confirmed a handgun was located across the street from campus on San Carlos Street.
Police said the suspect was hiding in a ventilation system on the third-floor of a university building when he came down and was apprehended.
The suspect will not be identified until he is booked. Police said he has not been cooperative in their interrogation process. The man is not a student, but is believed to be from San Jose.
San Jose Police Department Sgt. Enrique Garcia said at about 5:33 p.m., SJPD officers responded to the area of E. Santa Clara St. and N. 2nd St. on a weapons call. Police said someone had reported a male brandished a gun.
Arriving officers then located a possible suspect who then fled into the area of SJSU's campus in the area of S. 4th St and W. San Carlos St.
Police chased the suspect after he ran into the Spartan Complex, a building filled with classrooms, faculty offices, locker rooms and a gym.
Inside the building, three female students, said to be playing volleyball at the time, called officers. Two of them evacuated immediately, while the third locked herself inside. She was eventually escorted out by officers.
Police said they established a perimeter and that campus police were searching for a suspect.
Police gave a description of the suspect as an adult male 5'6", 130 lbs. wearing a black shirt, blue jeans and a black backpack.
The student newspaper, The Spartan Daily, tweeted about the campus lockdown at 6:34 p.m. and said that students were barricaded inside the Spartan Complex.
University officials sent out a text alert at 6:12 p.m. advising students of the possibility there was a gunman in the Spartan Complex.
University Police Department at San Jose State Chief Gina Di Napoli held a 7:30 p.m. news conference to update the situation and said the building remained on lockdown, the shelter-in-place was still in effect and that both police departments were searching for the suspect.
"There's only one person that actually saw the gun," Di Napoli said. "Apparently a weapon or a partial weapon was seen in that backpack. Our main priority is to find him in that building and to get him out. We do have the building contained."
The chief did not have an estimation of how many students were on campus at the time of the incident, but suspected it was much less than there would be in about a month when the fall semester starts.
The area of campus is an active police scene. People are advised to not come to SJSU campus and to avoid the area.
Bay City News contributed to this report.