Gunman, Firearm Seized At SJ State Placed On Lockdown: Police

SAN JOSE, CA — An alleged gunman was arrested on the San Jose State University campus at South Fourth St. and West San Carlos streets prompting a shelter-in-place, police and campus officials indicated.

When the suspect was taken into custody, police had not retrieved the gun but later found it.

The transient identified as Joshua Castro, 23, was transported to a local hospital for treatment from the pepper spray used and subsequently booked into Santa Clara County Jail for resisting arrest, being a felon in possession of a firearm and for a parole violation.

A lockdown of the university was lifted soon after he was apprehended, SJSU spokesperson Robin McElhatton said. The incident stemmed from a call at 5:33 p.m. saying a man was brandishing a gun in the area of North Second and East Santa Clara streets. The caller was off campus.

In response, a text advisory to "everybody who opted in" to the alerts received a message warning of a man with a gun on campus, McElhatton indicated.

Once the call came in, it was a foot chase into the Spartan complex where three women who said they saw the man without the gun walk by and say hello, McElhatton told Patch. A K9 unit was brought in, and officers cordoned off the area. The man was found in the rafters of the building's ceiling.

The man apparently has no connection to San Jose State, she added.

"This is not a copycat, shoot-up-the-campus thing," McElhatton said.

Emotions for South Bay residents appear raw given the tragic July 28 Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting.