Gunman Shot by Police at UC Berkeley

BERKELEY -- University police shot an armed man who brought a handgun into a business school computer lab Tuesday afternoon.

The event left the stunned campus, already bracing for the arrival of Occupy Oakland marchers hours later, questioning whether the two events were more than just a coincidence, university officials and witnesses said.

The unidentified suspect, described as a white male in his 20s, was the only person injured and was taken alive to Highland Hospital in Oakland, said a university spokesman. Late Tuesday there was no word on his condition or how he may be affiliated with UC Berkeley, but police said there was nothing early in their investigation connecting him to the Occupy Cal march on the other side of campus.

The shooting -- likely the first officer-involved gunfire at UC Berkeley and the first bullets fired on campus since a Bear's Lair shooting in the 1980s -- came as an unexpected twist to an already tense day on campus.

As students began their rally outside Sproul Hall and evicted Occupy Oakland protesters amassed at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza to march to Berkeley, a man, about 5-foot-8 and wearing a blue jacket and blue backpack, entered an elevator in the Haas School of Business, said Lyle Nevels, the business school spokesman. A business school employee entered the same elevator and as it ascended, she noticed the suspect pull out a handgun from his backpack and then place it back inside.

The man exited on the third floor, but the employee continued up to the 5th floor where she found Nevels, and the pair returned to the third floor computer lab and saw the suspect in a rear corner, Nevels said. The pair called police and officers responded within two minutes, said UC Berkeley police Chief Mitch Celaya.

When three officers confronted the man, he said, the suspect pulled out the gun and "displayed it in a threatening manner." They ordered him to drop the weapon, and when he did not, one officer fired multiple shots, Celaya said, as four shocked students looked on. The man did not return fire and a handgun was found near him, Lt. Alex Yao said. No one else was injured.

The shooting was caught on a computer lab camera, and officials will review the tape, campus police Capt. Margo Bennett said. A motive for the shooting is unknown.

The Haas School of Business building was immediately evacuated after the shooting, and the college sent out email and text notices, spokesman Dan Mogulof said.

Alex Arroyo, a UC Berkeley student who works at the front desk of the computer lab, said he did not notice the man enter, but he saw officers approach the man in the back of the lab, a large area that includes classrooms.

"I heard them say, 'Drop the gun! Drop the gun!' and I heard four or five shots," Arroyo said.

"When we heard the shots, we all dropped to the ground, and about 30 seconds later the police came out and said, 'Everybody get out, get out.'"

The officer who shot him is on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting. Celaya did not identify the officer.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau called the shooting "extraordinarily upsetting."

The last UC Berkeley campus shooting was in 1988 when Cal football linebacker Joel Dixon was shot twice by an unknown assailant outside the Bear's Lair pub.

"I cannot tell you how sorry I am that we are here at this news conference," he said.

As the chancellor and police staff held the afternoon news conference, marchers continued their protest and planned to rally throughout the night at Sproul Plaza.

Staff writer Kristin Bender contributed to this report.