EVERETT — The man with a gun in his hand appeared to be looking for a place to hide in the bushes near Jackson Hall at Everett Community College.
The former student pointed the weapon toward the parking lot.
It was Saturday morning on the largely deserted campus.
Police and college officials reviewed surveillance footage but still aren’t sure what he was doing there.
They initially worried he could have been targeting a gay and lesbian dance scheduled at Jackson Hall that evening, according to court papers. People started setting up for the annual Pink Prom in the morning. The arrest didn’t prevent Saturday classes or the dance from taking place.
For now, college officials are in the dark about the man’s motive.
“We hope to learn that through the (Everett Police Department) investigation,” said Pat Sisneros, EvCC’s vice president for college services. “At this point, we just don’t know.”
An EvCC security officer was walking around the campus shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday when he heard what sounded like a gunshot. He saw the suspect run down Tower Street toward Broadway with what appeared to be a gun in his hand.
Police and college officials then looked at surveillance video of the plaza area where they could see the suspect had been looking around near the bushes by Jackson Hall.
A patrol officer found the suspect in the 1100 block of Broadway. The college security officer identified him as the man he saw running from the campus. A check turned up information that the suspect had a 2008 conviction for first-degree robbery. The homeless man, 25, was arrested for investigation of being a felon in possession of a firearm and was booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
College staff discovered damage they believe was caused by a bulletin a window frame in a second-story stairwell at Gray Wolf Hall.
The suspect did not make a statement to police, court papers said.
He was not in possession of a gun when he was arrested. His pocket knife reportedly was caked with fresh dirt, leading police to wonder if he used it as a digging tool.
The man briefly had been a student at the college in 2008 and 2012, according to EvCC records. In 2008, the man pleaded guilty to robbery. In that case, prosecutors alleged that he used an aluminum bat to assault and rob a man of his wallet while an accomplice kicked the victim.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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