2 Cal Poly students shot guns on campus 4 times, prosecutors say, including through ceiling
The two Cal Poly students who were arrested in November after allegedly shooting guns on campus had done so at least three previous times, including inside one of their dorm rooms, according to new court records.
The records include text exchanges after the two had allegedly gone out shooting on earlier occasions, along with details about the cache of weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition seized by police from their on-campus apartment after the arrest.
Charles Hojaboom and Brandon Pham were arrested by Cal Poly police on Nov. 11 after officers found the two along Poly Canyon Road in possession of a shotgun, a loaded, concealed pistol and a knife, Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier told The Tribune at the time. The officers also found a nearby campus sign with bullet holes, he said.
Initially, Hojaboom was charged with possession of a loaded firearm on a college campus, possession of a knife on a college campus — both felonies — and misdemeanor possession of tools with intent to commit vandalism, court records show.
Pham was charged with possession of a loaded firearm on a college campus, possession of a knife on a college campus — the same felonies as Hojaboom — and misdemeanor possession of a stun gun on a college campus.
But now, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office has filed five additional felony charges against the pair stemming from earlier incidents on campus. The agency also filed a motion to increase the two students’ bail to no bail and return them to custody.
“The defendants’ decision to continue their brazen and abhorrent conduct, despite the dangers they knew their actions posed, demonstrates the defendants’ extreme indifference to the lives of innocent members of the community,” the motion said.
In court Tuesday, records show, San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Timothy Covello found Hojaboom was a danger to the public and increased his bail to no bail. The motion to increase Pham’s bail was denied.
Hojaboom was subsequently taken back into jail custody.
The two men have not yet entered pleas to the charges, and the court has issued a restraining order, barring Hojaboom and Pham from Cal Poly’s campus and prohibiting them from being able to legally buy a gun.
Police found guns, 650 rounds of ammunition, knives and machete inside dorm room
A motion filed by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office to increase Hojaboom’s bail revealed new details of the Nov. 11 shooting and Hojaboom’s alleged history with guns on Cal Poly’s campus.
The day of Hojaboom and Pham’s arrest, Cal Poly officers were at the scene of a traffic stop when they heard gunshots being fired on the northeast side of campus and immediately went to investigate.
Officers ended up on Poly Canyon Road, where they eventually encountered Hojaboom and Pham walking toward their vehicle. Both were wearing backpacks, and Hojaboom was carrying a rifle case at the time.
The two men cooperated with officers, who found a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun registered to Hojaboom inside the rifle case with an expended shotgun cartridge. There were no live rounds in the shotgun at that time.
Hojaboom’s backpack contained a holstered semi-automatic Norinco pistol registered to Hojaboom’s father, the motion said. The pistol was not loaded but there was a magazine for the weapon with eight live rounds attached to the holster.
More loaded magazines, a bandolier with live shotgun rounds and other live and expended rounds were also found inside Hojaboom’s backpack.
No contraband was found on Pham or inside Pham’s backpack, the motion said.
Pham agreed to show officers where the shooting occurred and led officers up Poly Canyon Road and away from campus. One officer noticed a metal sign with a hole consistent with a shotgun slug about 75 feet from where officers first encountered the two students.
Pham led officers to a creek area about 20 yards from the road and said Hojaboom was shooting toward a dirt hill and bushes. Pham denied firing any shots.
Officers learned Pham and Hojaboom were both students and roommates at Poly Canyon Village. Officers went to search their bedrooms while they transported the two men to the campus police station.
There, officers found a disassembled Mosin-Nagant rifle, 650 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, a ski mask, machete, three large fixed-blade knives and a butterfly knife inside Hojaboom’s room.
Inside Pham’s room, officers found a large fixed-blade knife, mace pepper gel, a stun gun/flashlight, a butterfly knife and ammunition attached to a military-style helmet.
The two men were arrested and transported to San Luis Obispo County Jail early Nov. 12.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Pham and Hojaboom were booked into jail at 5:12 a.m. and 5:45 a.m., respectively on Nov. 12. Both posted a $20,000 bail later that day. Hojaboom was released at 10:51 a.m., and Pham was released at 2 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office said.
Cal Poly Police Department detectives obtained a search warrant for Hojaboom’s phone and found that Hojaboom and Pham communicated often, sometimes exchanging hundreds of text messages within a day.
Some messages between the two “appeared unsettling upon first glance,” the motion said, including talking about shooting someone or something, including a police station.
The detectives believed, based on the totality of the messages, that the comments were “essentially intended as dark humor and satire” and “there was no indication the defendants had serious intent to follow through with such violent comments.”
Hojaboom’s phone did reveal, however, three additional incidents where the two students fired weapons on Cal Poly’s campus in June and October.
Cal Poly students were nearly caught shooting on campus months prior to arrest, texts show
The first incident took place on June 10 at the end of the last academic year.
According to phone records, the motion said, Hojaboom and Pham exchanged messages containing photos of them posing in what appeared to be one of the Yosemite Tower dorm rooms, where the two lived at the time.
Photos depicted each man pointing a shotgun at the camera while wearing a ski mask. The shotgun appears to be the same gun Hojaboom was carrying on Nov. 11 at the time of his arrest.
Messages from the early morning of June 10 show the two were talking about a shooting incident that occurred just moments prior in a horse pasture at Cal Poly.
It appeared that Hojaboom and Pham were shooting from a position on the hillside when a spotlight began to shine up toward them.
“It seemed both defendants fled, leaving the shotgun and hearing protection behind,” the motion said.
That’s when the following conversation took place:
Pham: F--k tbh I don’t find this funny no more man after that floodlight was searching for us. ... Lost the ears, got the gun dirty, and we got f--ked up.
Hojaboom: Yeah we messed up big time.
Pham: I got a big ass cut from a tree on my calf.
Hojaboom: I’m going straight back after the shower.
Pham: Ah sh-t good luck man. ... Hopefully don’t die tho from an angry yokel
Hojaboom: Yeah ima find that shotgun
Pham: Bring a bayonet or somethin idk
Hojaboom: F--k
Pham: Also the ears
Hojaboom: Oh yeah huh ... If I can find it
The messages also included two videos of Hojaboom shooting during that incident wearing ear protection and a bandolier containing shotgun rounds. Both men appeared to be laughing in the videos and calling the shooting “awesome.”
Another text exchange from June 10 shows the two talking about the shooting incident again, with Pham noting that there were houses in the line of trajectory Hojaboom was shooting in.
Hojaboom: Idk hopefully we didn’t shoot at a farmer. ... According to Quora we didn’t commit murder
Pham: I hope to god we didn’t hit anything beyond the cacti
Hojaboom: As long as we didn’t waste someone on accident ... Would be so terrible ... Innocent wowie dies
Pham: Like even hitting some dudes truck or home would be terrible
Hojaboom: True as long as no one got hurt
Then the two joked about if they had killed someone, where Pham said “Lmfao imagine the last thing he hears before he dies, imma load three rounds, put on the ears!”
The motion said the two men continued to discuss shotgun ballistics, cleaning up shotgun shells and the need to hide footprints. Hojaboom later sent a photo of a shotgun wad and said “they might find like 30 of these” and told Pham to delete the video on his phone “before it’s too late.”
Video shows student saying ‘Charles Manson’ before shooting inside dorm room, records say
The next incident occurred a week later on June 17, according to court records.
At about 3 a.m. that day, Hojaboom texted Pham to let him know there were fireworks on campus, and Pham said, “We should fire off some ‘fireworks’ too,” and Hojaboom replied “LOL ... U down?” to which Pham replied “Aight bet.”
The two decided to shoot near the volleyball courts, the motion said, and later exchanged seven videos of each other shooting Hojaboom’s shotgun at that location.
The third incident occurred on Oct. 27 at around 11:30 p.m., the motion said.
On that day, Pham sent a 20-second video to Hojaboom in which Pham said “damn it’s kinda dark” and Hojaboom responded with “Sh-t, na it’s fine.”
According to court documents, the video then showed Hojaboom sliding back onto the corner of his desk and a brief reflection of light consistent with the type of ear protection Hojaboom possessed appeared at the right side of his head.
After sliding backward, the motion said, Hojaboom placed the butt of a rifle on his left thigh with the muzzle pointed upward. Pham then said something inaudible followed by “Charles Manson.”
Investigators do not know what Pham meant by referencing Charles Manson, the motion said, but said the reference to a “notorious murderer is deeply disturbing” in the context of the videotaping.
After Pham said “Charles Manson,” “the distinct sound of a bolt action rifle cycling can be heard,” the motion said. The weapon fired seconds later.
The motion said 83 text messages were deleted from Hojaboom’s phone that day and could not be recovered by the time of the motion.
On Nov. 13 — the day after Hojaboom and Pham posted bail — an unnamed student whose room was located directly above Hojaboom’s reported that he found a bullet in his bedroom, the motion said.
Officers searched the bedroom and determined a bullet had been fired from Hojaboom’s bedroom, pierced the floor of the bedroom above, traveled through a trunk underneath the above student’s bed and pierced the student’s bed frame.
Officers later found a hole underneath masking tape in Hojaboom’s ceiling that was consistent with a large caliber rifle bullet.
Hojaboom and Pham were both additionally charged with discharging a firearm with gross negligence — with a sentencing enhancement for a serious felony — and possession of a loaded firearm on a college campus from the June 10 incident and two charges possession of a loaded firearm on campus relating to the June 17 incident and Oct. 27 incident.
The two were also charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling or vehicle relating to the Oct. 27 incident.
The two men’s next bail reduction hearing is scheduled for Dec. 20.
