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Cal Poly student shot guns on campus, sentenced to 210 days

September 18, 2024

Cal Poly student Charles Hojaboom and Brandon Pham

By KAREN VELIE

One of two 20-year-old Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students accused of firearm offenses was sentenced Wednesday to 210 days in jail.

Brandon Pham pleaded no contest to possessing a loaded firearm on a university campus and to firing a firearm on campus. San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Catherine Swysen sentenced Pham to 210 days in jail, two years probation, and 60 hours of community service.

Shortly after 10 p.m. on Nov. 11, 2023, while on patrol Cal Poly police officers heard gunshots in the Poly Canyon Village area. Police dispatch then received several calls from campus residents reporting sounds of gunshots.

Officers arrived at the scene and found Charles Hojaboom and Pham in possession of a shotgun and a loaded, concealed pistol. Police also found a campus sign along the road with bullet holes.

Police reportedly found a weapons cache and ammunition inside the students’ housing.

Both men quickly bailed out of jail in Nov. 2023.

However, at a hearing on Dec. 14, 2023, the court remanded Hojaboom to the SLO County Jail, where he is currently being held without bail.

In May 2024, a judge found Hojaboom incompetent to stand trial. He is slated for a new competency hearing on Sept. 30.

 


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210 days? Not the education I’m trying to give my children.


6

How can that happen? He was obviously competent enough to make it to college. How can he now claim he is insane?


17

May be someone who is on the autism spectrum. High functioning academically, while simultaneously lacking typical skills for socialization and communication. Put this type of person into a highly stressful environment (ie. jail/courtroom) and they may shut down completely.


6

Firearm savant.


0

It looks like Cal Poly students Charles Hojaboom and Brandon Pham could have severe cases of Moral Insanity.


7

A Cal Poly student incompetent to stand trial, what do his grades look like?


20

Wait. Hojaboom was incompetent to stand trial, but he was also a Cal Poly Student? I assume he was mentally competent enough to get into Cal Poly so what happened? Lost his mind? I’m genuinely curious.


16