Updated May 3 at 8:23 p.m.
The man who died in a shooting near San Jose State on April 24 has been identified as 20-year-old Damion Ruffin, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said Thursday.
Ruffin was not an SJSU student, according to a statement university officials provided to the Mercury News on Monday.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting at The Grad San Jose Apartment Complex on 88 East San Carlos Street at 11:37 a.m. where they found Ruffin suffering from a gunshot wound, according to an April 26 news release by the San Jose Police Department.
Ruffin died at the scene, becoming the city’s 14th homicide of the year according to the release.
No suspect has been arrested or identified at the time of publication.
Anyone with information is asked to contact SJPD Detective Sanchez or Sgt. Bagon at 408-277-5283.
Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867.
Community reacts to shooting
Rachel Sarahang, an international business junior and The Grad resident, saw cop cars outside the complex on April 24 and initially thought there was a shooter outside.
Rachel Sarahang, an international business junior and The Grad resident, saw cop cars outside the complex and initially thought there was a shooter outside.
“In today's society, just with gun violence and everything happening in the world, it's not as alarming as it should be, you know?” Sarahang said. “I wasn't expecting it but it was just kind of like, oh, it's happening here now.”
The Grad houses more than 1,000 SJSU students and has 19 floors, according to a Nov. 19, 2018 news release announcing the building’s completion.
University Police Department Captain Frank Belcastro said while the homicide is under investigation by SJPD, UPD officers are trained for any active shooter or potential threat on campus. UPD works closely with SJPD, the FBI and the Northern California Information Center, which is a regional Information Center that gets all the intel on active threats that are in the area, to ensure campus safety.
Bay Area resident Devin Palmaffy said he was waiting for his girlfriend, who lives at The Grad, in the lobby of the complex when he witnessed multiple police officers enter the building discussing activity on the top floors.
“It sounded like one guy died on the 12th floor and there is another guy with a gun that [officers] were searching for at the moment,” Palmaffy said. “This is from just me sitting in the lobby [and listening to police chatter].”
Advertising junior Sara Wiler said her and her roommate left their apartment on the eighth floor at around 11:40 a.m. to pick up a package from the first floor office.
When they got into the elevator, Wiler said there was a woman who looked visibly shaken, shoeless and crying.
“She sprinted out of the elevator, through the lobby, out of the doors where there were like a few cop cars already, probably about three or four,” Wiler said in a phone call. “She ran outside and she was screaming, ‘I need an ambulance, I need an ambulance!’ ”
Wiler and her roommate said the situation was chaotic and communication to residents about the circumstances was delayed.
“When we started seeing police officers walk back and forth through the lobby with really large guns, we knew at that point that something crazy had happened,” Wiler said. “You don't usually just see police officers walking down the street with guns.”
Residents received an automated text message to stay in their apartments at 1:30 p.m. Ryan Baker, general manager of The Grad, sent out an email to residents at 2 p.m. notifying them the complex was “locked down.”
Wiler also said around the same time, a message came over the alarm system telling residents to shelter and stay inside until the police said it was safe to leave.
Sarahang said when officers arrived at The Grad they told her and her roommate to leave the complex. They were unable to return to their apartment until around 6 p.m.
Wiler said the delay in communication was alarming, especially because people were leaving their apartments for the lobby to seek more information from staff.
“You never know who's in the building,” Wiler said. “Something potentially really dangerous could have happened.”
Palmaffy said it’s hard to have a loved one living at a location that can be entered so easily.
“The security at The Grad is definitely not it,” Palmaffy said. “But any building that you live in, it's definitely scary for that to happen and know that it was that easy for [a shooter] to get [in].”
Anyone with information is asked to contact SJPD Detective Sanchez or Sgt. Bagon at 408-277-5283.
Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867.
