Sonoma State University students reflect on recent campus violence

Bright yellow crime scene tape hung from the stairwell Thursday of a Sonoma State University student residence where last weekend a 26-year-old man was stabbed to death. It was a grim reminder of the violence that unfolded here as campus life rushed to a close, with finals underway this week, students moving out and graduation ceremonies taking place today and Sunday at the Green Music Center.

Inside the on-campus apartments that house more than 3,000 SSU students, vacuums hummed as bulging trash bags were hauled out to dumpsters and classmates embraced in emotional goodbyes for the summer.

Some said they were still shocked by the deadly encounter Sunday between two nonstudents inside a unit of Sauvignon Village, part of the Alicante housing area with predominantly freshmen residents. The death marked the second on-campus homicide in two years.

“It feels safe here. You would never think something like this would happen,” said Nicole Austin, who just finished her freshman year studying psychology and lives below the unit where the stabbing took place.

The stabbing victim, Steven John Garcia, a 26-year-old Santa Rosa resident, was found dead after a fight between him and Tyler Joseph Bratton, 20, broke out in a bedroom of the apartment on the southwest end of the Rohnert Park campus, authorities said.

Bratton was charged Wednesday with voluntary manslaughter. He had originally been booked in the Sonoma County Jail on a potential murder charge.

Sonoma County Public Defender Kathleen Pozzi, whose office is representing Bratton, said she anticipates her client will enter a not guilty plea when he appears in court May 31.

“Self-defense, self-defense, self-defense,” Pozzi said Friday in an interview when asked about the allegations facing her client. “This is going to be a self-defense case - no crime at all.”

She reiterated earlier comments from this week that neither drugs nor other “unlawful behavior” were factors in the stabbing, but would not go into further detail about what sparked the deadly confrontation.

Bratton remained in jail Friday, with bail set at $135,000.

Petaluma Police Lt. Tim Lyons, who is overseeing the criminal investigation into the death, said Friday he could not provide any updates on the case. On Thursday, he said it was too early to rule out drugs and other illegal activity.

Neither man was a student, but both were friends with an unidentified woman, a freshman who lived in the unit at Sauvignon Village. Visitors are allowed in the dorms, and students spoke this week of an open-campus policy that allows students to come and go as they please.

“We have these amazing dorm rooms and this freedom,” said Rebecca Moules, a soon-to-be second-year student who lived near the unit where the stabbing took place. “Obviously anyone could come on campus. That's when the freedom gets scary.”

The on-campus housing accommodates 3,100 students in units spread across six residential villages. Students described those villages as close-knit communities frequently patrolled by fellow students who live in dorms and work as community service advisors who enforce campus policies. Students said their presence is visible, and that fear over potential repercussions from violating campus housing rules often pushes parties off university grounds.

Violation of such policies could result in varying degrees of discipline, from an administrative warning to an outright ban from student housing, according to university housing policies posted on the SSU website.

“Hardly ever do people come from off campus,” said Sarah O., a 19-year-old pre-nursing student. This semester, she lived in a unit beneath the apartment where the stabbing occurred. She declined to give her full name out of fear.

“People would rather go to other houses, frat houses or friends' houses,” she said.

Off-campus hot spots include the weekly Thursday night Cotati Crawl, Petaluma bars on Friday nights and La Rosa Tequileria & Grille on Saturday in Santa Rosa, said Angelea Eaton, 22, an entering senior studying political science. This semester she lived in Beaujolais Village.

“It's pretty quiet” on campus, she said. “It's hard to have parties because they get shut down. … Everyone leaves to go off campus. It's dead here.”

But, in the apartment where the stabbing took place, things were different, said Austin, the 19-year-old psychology major from Danville. A roommate who arrived this semester brought with her older “random” guests who were unwelcome in the four-bedroom unit that was home to six people.

Austin was friends with five women in the unit, and would visit about three times a week. Sometimes, she said she smelled a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the new roommate's quarters. The woman could not be reached this week for comment.

The other women in the apartment lodged at least three complaints about their new roommate with college housing staff during the course of the semester, Austin said. The university “did nothing,” she said.

“That's what I think needs to change,” Austin said Wednesday. “All the girls upstairs were talking with their parents and trying to get people to change that and listen to the students more. They have been scared all semester and then a (killing) happened in their apartment.”

SSU spokesman Paul Gullixson said the university had no comment on the reported complaints or the school's response in those particular cases.

“We want to be clear that student safety is always a priority on campus, and Sonoma State takes seriously any complaints we receive about misconduct in our residential facilities,” he wrote in an email.

Two of Austin's friends who lived in the unit where the stabbing took place declined to comment this week.

While the crime has left some students shaken, many said a change to campus policy would bring unwelcome restrictions.

“It's life. There's only so much we can do until something happens. … We can't change to a closed campus. That's too many changes,” Moules said.

Gullixson, in an interview earlier this week, said the homicide was an isolated incident, and there were no discussions about changing policy for student housing.

“We're not running a boarding school,” Gullixson said. “We're not asking residents to check in guests.”

Still, students voiced some concern the stabbing could tarnish the university's reputation. It was the second homicide at the university since late 2016, when a landscaper found the body of Kirk Kimberly, 18, in a shallow grave in a wooded area on the edge of campus.

Sonoma County sheriff's detectives believe the Cotati teenager had been stabbed multiple times while on university grounds, said Sgt. Spencer Crum, the sheriff's spokesman. Kimberly was not an SSU student.

“I'm glad I'm moving off campus,” said Kourtney Land, a 21-year-old liberal arts major from Brentwood who this year lived in Tuscany Village, but is moving off campus for her upcoming senior year. “It's freaky - there was a body a year ago found on campus and now one in my own backyard.”

Student Chase Simon, who is entering his senior year, said the violence made him less comfortable on campus at times.

“I still feel safe, but I don't want to walk out at night alone,” said the 21-year-old from Agoura Hills. “I feel like it's a normal occurrence now. It kind of shook a lot of people up.”

Many other students generally described the campus as a relaxed, tranquil place. But seven people interviewed separately this week, including 18-year-old Sauvignon Village resident Samantha Keller, referred to an unreported “drug bust” in the Alicante buildings earlier this semester.

“There was a big police gathering around Alicante, a big drug bust in the beginning of the semester,” said Keller, a global studies major from San Jose who just finished her freshman year.

David Dougherty, Sonoma State University's interim police chief, and Gullixson had no comment about the reported drug raid, other recent drug-related arrests in campus student housing or past police responses to the unit where the stabbing occurred.

Rohnert Park Police Commander Aaron Johnson said his agency does not respond to the campus “often, if at all.” He was not aware of any recent drug raid, he said.

“The kids, they come off campus to do their partying,” he said. “They know the sanctions are pretty stiff on campus, but that's just my guess. ... We don't go.”

Cotati Police Chief Michael Parish said the on-campus housing was outside Cotati's jurisdiction and his agency had no information about prior history there.

Staff Writer Nick Rahaim contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Hannah Beausang at 707-521-5214 or hannah.beausang@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @hannahbeausang.