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At approximately 7:15 p.m. on Feb. 4, a man ran onto the football field in Jaguar Stadium at San Jose City College in the middle of a youth soccer practice.
“There was sort of a disturbance on the field where a person was said to have been acting bizarre,” San Jose Evergreen Community College District Police Lieutenant Gilbert Torres said.
Witnesses said the middle-aged man, roughly in his 40s, may have been suffering from mental issues as he was shouting that people were following him and to “get the kids out of here.”
“He was yelling from across the field. When he jumped the fence and started moving towards us, we had to take precaution,” youth soccer coach Terri Hays said. “When he started coming a little bit closer to the kids, we started moving the kids away from the area.”
All of the children were rushed into the Student Center cafeteria, which was the closest and safest place to move the children at that time, according to SJECCD Police.
“He wasn’t necessarily threatening anybody other than his presence in terms of moving towards the boys,” youth soccer coach Erik Gasper said. “Three coaches did a good job as far as removing the kids and a group of us coaches just tried to engage him and hold off until authorities could come and subdue him.”
When the City College Times arrived on the scene, the suspect was being wheeled out of Jaguar Stadium on a gurney after apparently being tasered by officers, but was active and staring at reporters.
“The policeman told him to stop, that he needed to talk to him, he got down from the bleachers and was trying to flee and then they stun-gunned him,” Hays said.
“(The suspect) mentioned that he had a weapon of some type,” Torres said. “After he was taken into custody, nothing was found on him.”
San Jose Fire Department Caption Albert Hernandez was on the scene, as is necessary when a person is tasered. “Our function here was to make sure he was medically cleared to be transported to the hospital,” Hernandez said.
The suspect was transported to Valley Medical Center for medical and mental evaluation and will eventually be booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail, Torres said.