Spring Break
Life lost; motive sought
Brittany Bottini, Cole Mayer and Todd Wilson
Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: News
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At 2:10 p.m. on Oct. 21, a disturbance was reported in the American River Courtyard residence hall. Fifteen minutes later, a call was made to University Police. When they arrived, police found 19-year-old Quran Jones in his suite reportedly holding an 8-inch long knife.
Police attempted to calm Jones down, but were unsuccessful. Police then attempted to subdue Jones with pepper balls fired from air pistols, which had no effect on him.
University Police Chief Dan Davis said police were then forced to fire their weapons when Jones reportedly charged at them with the knife; he was hit three times.
"The officers tried to avoid using deadly force," Davis said. "But they had no alternative."
Following the shooting of Jones, campus police found Jones' suitemate Scott Hawkins, 23, on the ground suffering from injuries that may have been caused by a baseball bat. Hawkins was taken to a local hospital where he died.
Jones was taken to the UC Davis Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.
After both men were taken to area hospitals, the Sacramento Police Department took over the investigation.
SPD Sgt. Norm Leong said his department is handling the investigation because it was an officer-involved shooting.
Jones is facing charges of homicide and the attempted murder of a police officer.
Campus police and administration officials said no motive for the crime has been determined.
"There's only one individual right now who can give us any inkling of what the motive was to spark this incident, and that is the suspect. As far as I can understand, he is not communicating. We may never know," said Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez.
Friends and family of the men involved described both as quiet and studious, with no previous signs of violent behavior.
Sophomore computer science major Spencer Dirrim, suitemate of Hawkins and Jones, said neither had any issues before the incident, and was surprised to hear about what happened.
"I couldn't believe it," Dirrim said. "I didn't think either of them was capable of being in that situation."
Dirrim said Jones showed an interest in mixed martial arts, Transcendentalism and chakras, and often watched videos of yogis in India. Dirrim said Jones expressed an interest in hallucinogenic drugs in the weeks leading up to the incident.
"If I had to guess this all could have come about as a really bad trip on his part," Dirrim said. "He'd been talking extensively about DMT."
Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, is a hallucinogenic substance most often found in plants and seeds, but it can also be produced synthetically. The drug is commonly sniffed, smoked or injected.
Jones' toxicology report has yet to be completed. The results will be witheld from the public because they are part of an ongoing investigation, Leong said.
For many students and staff, the emotional impact of the incident isn't expected to hit until later on, said Lori Varlotta, associate vice president for Student Affairs. Some students, however, are already in shock.
"I was terrified, scared, worried, nervous, all of the above," said Ashjone McPherson, sophomore speech pathology major.
Other students felt the incident was isolated and would likely not be repeated.
"It was just like a freak incident and anything like that could have happened to anybody, but for the most part I feel pretty safe on campus," said Briahna Reeves, an undeclared freshman.
Both Gonzalez and Davis have made assurances that the campus is safe and this was an "isolated and random incident."
Some people complained about the late text message from the school alerting students about the incident and the safety of the campus.
"The situation was handled well, but I wish (the police) would've said something sooner," said Mike Navalta, freshman business major.
Gonzalez said campus police followed protocol with regard to the Emergency Notification System.
"As far as I'm concerned with the incident, there was no danger to life or limb at that point. There was no property that was going to be damaged," he said. "Essentially, it was the aftermath of the actual incident. Once the ambulance left, that was it. What are we going to say: 'There was an incident and we're mopping up the crime scene'?"
Dustin Stumpf, freshman kinesiology major and suitemate of Jones and Hawkins, said he and his other roommates are still in shock.
"We're just going to stick together and fight it out and just keep plugging," Stumpf said. "We're there for each other."
Brittany Bottini, Cole Mayer and Todd Wilson can be reached at news@statehornet.com.
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