FANTOM PLANET

Wow! File this one under “crime mapping.”

First there’s the DevSummit this week, then there’s this!

A University of Redlands graduate student could face felony charges after police said he fired gunshots from the steps outside an off-campus student apartment complex.

It wasn’t me.

On Thursday afternoon, police found a discarded .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun near Pioneer Avenue and Judson Street.

Police found more evidence inside [the student's] apartment, Sgt. Travis Martinez said.

Police responded to a call of shots being fired about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 1100 block of Central Avenue.

Witnesses helped police find [the student's] residence near Central and Cook Street, part of a university-owned apartment complex for students, Martinez said.

[The student] was not home when police arrived, but police later found and arrested him, Martinez said.

It was unclear why [the student] fired the gun.

“We don’t believe he was firing at anybody or anything specific,” Martinez said.

[The student] faces either felony or misdemeanor charges, depending on which way county prosecutors lean.

It is a case known in legal terms as a “wobbler,” Martinez said.

[The student], who was working on his master’s degree in geographic information systems, withdrew Friday from the university, said Katie Ismael, university spokeswoman.

Who’d a thunk that I’d be living a life of danger?

For our program director’s sake, I’ll have to say this was an isolated incident and that we’re still a good program. This isn’t the ESRI Summer Camp and Women’s Prison.

So, what can I say about GIS and firearms? Well, let’s say, they don’t mix in most places. Although, we do have a student who works for the Redlands PD. Check out this cool video of him on a ride-along:

No, that’s not Chris Schmidt either.

(Thanks to to Dave Smith for pointing the article out… Who probably found it in his Google News search for “geographic information systems.”)