Suitemate of UC Merced stabbing suspect talks
MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- It went from chaos this morning to, pretty much, an empty campus. Many students have left the school, including the suspect's suitemate.
On Wednesday morning UC Merced freshman, Andrew Velasquez, was startled awake by police. "I was pretty scared. My heart was beating really fast, and I was like, what's going on here, what did I do, why are guns being pointed at me."
He would quickly learn one of the four people he lived with was a stabbing suspect. "The cops actually went into my room and they basically told me to get out because I didn't know what was happening," said Velasquez.
Velasquez said about the suspect, "Didn't talk much. And I never saw him walk with anybody. Walking to class, I never saw him walk with anybody."
Velasquez describes the student, accused of stabbing four people, as anti-social. "Every time I would try and say something he would just ignore it."
While Velasquez was dealing with the shocking news, one floor down a group of girls were locked inside their dorm. Their view of the bomb squad right outside their window. "They did detonate something. We heard the sirens and then they said, 'fire in the hole' and then it detonated," said Kristen Halliday, UC Merced freshman.
That explosion, according to the sheriff, came from neutralizing the suspect's backpack. "We are doing some further investigation. We've asked for Fresno County bomb squad unit to come in to test the substance that we found in the backpack," explained Sheriff Vern Warnke, Merced County
Now many students are trying to recover from the chaos and come to terms with the devastation. "Why him? Why would someone want to do that? I just didn't expect it to be him," said Velasquez
So far authorities have released few details about the suspect.
The FBI is now part of the investigation.
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