A suspect apprehended Thursday in connection with a scare at San Jose State University has been identified. Dozens of police officers swarmed the area after receiving reports of a man with a gun two blocks from campus.
The suspect has been identified by authorities as Joshua Castro, 23, a transient who is a felon on parole.
When police arrived they spotted Castro as he ran into the Spartan Complex.
Police used a K-9 unit to locate the Castro inside a vent on the third floor of the Spartan Building, police said. Police used pepper spray while taking him into custody. He was arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment related to the pepper spray and then booked into Santa Clara County Jail.
A handgun was found across the street in the bushes where the suspect was first spotted. No shots were fired.
Students were advised to shelter in place for nearly three hours. Three female students were inside the Spartan Complex when the situation began, two of them were evacuated quickly. The third locked herself inside a closet until police located her.
“I got the text in a group and I’m like ‘oh wow,’” said student Austin McNiff. “I didn’t know how to react to it. Of course, in the news you hear stories like this.”
Some students said they weren’t worried so much about another mass shooting as they are about criminal suspects just outside of SJSU spilling onto campus.
“It’s kind of frustrating sometimes,” said student Abhaya Karmacharya. “Sometimes our classes get cancelled.”
