Gilroy
– Students at Ascension Solorsano were locked down Thursday
morning after a man driving a stolen truck fled toward the campus
after crashing into two vehicles stopped at a light in front of the
school, police said.
Gilroy – Students at Ascension Solorsano were locked down Thursday morning after a man driving a stolen truck fled toward the campus after crashing into two vehicles stopped at a light in front of the school, police said.
A Morgan Hill man whose car was struck at the intersection of Club Drive and Santa Teresa Boulevard was taken to Saint Louise Regional Hospital with minor injuries.
Gilroy police surrounded the immediate area and brought out the police K9 unit.
About 1pm police apprehended 44–year-old Felix Arnaz of San Jose in a home off of Kentwood Court and Westwood Drive.
“He was in one garage and fled from that to a house (where he was arrested),” officer Stan Devlin said.
Arnaz was out on parole and engaged in a South Valley crime spree, Devlin said.
“There are videos of him doing a burglary police in Santa Clara are viewing,” he said. “Everything in that truck is not supposed to be there.”
The truck was stolen from Hathaway Dinwiddy Construction company in Santa Clara sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
Among the items found in the vehicle were 40 pounds of gold used in computer circuit boards, which Devlin suspects is cleaned, melted and sold for profit.
Witnesses said Arnaz got out of the truck after the accident – in which he did not appear to brake – with his pants undone and ran into towards Uvas Creek behind the school.
“He fell down and kept looking back at us. I think he was hurt,” said Jennifer Roberts of Los Gatos who was a passenger in the first car at the light. “He just disappeared into the trees.”
He was booked at Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of stealing an automobile, violating parole, a hit and run felony, possession of a controlled substance – methamphetamine – two counts of illegal trespassing and one count of burglary, Devlin said. Additional charges are pending.
Kirk Grant of Morgan Hill, 74, was visibly shaken after the accident in which his vehicle was struck. He complained of pain in his lower legs, back, neck and head. Emergency personnel from the Gilroy Fire Department and Emergency Medical Technicians stabilized his neck and supported his back at the scene.
X-rays revealed a crack in the upper neck area, Devlin said. A CAT-scan showed it was not broken. Grant was released later Thursday.
Solorsano went into lockdown mode at 11:29am, one minute before the elementary students were going to be released for a break. The middle school was in fourth period.
“It was precautionary,” said Roger Cornia, Gilroy Unified School District’s school safety officer.
Though students at Solorsano have undergone emergency drills, this was the school’s first lockdown.
All doors were locked and window shades drawn. Some teachers had students crouched underneath their desks. Principal Sal Tomasello and campus supervisors secured the perimeters of the school and communicated via walky talkies.
“We had a group (of students on a nature walk) over at Christmas Hill Park,” Cornia said. “An officer went down and brought the group back by bus,” Cornia said. “That was our major concern because they were in a vulnerable position.”
They returned to the campus and placed in lockdown mode until it ended at 12:10pm.
There are two levels of lockdown at Solorsano, a red and a blue, Cornia explained. This lockdown was categorized as a blue meaning there was activity in the neighborhood, but not directly on campus.
“It went very smoothly,” Cornia said. “The kids were very cooperative. Our safety plan appears to be working.”
