More details are emerging about the crime spree that occurred across El Camino College’s campus Sunday, Oct. 5, which included two arson attacks at the Bookstore and in the Chemistry Building.
Gardena Police arrested Joshua Anthony Chavez off campus on suspicion of arson, who was booked on felony charges.
Chavez has been moved to the North County Correctional Facility, a maximum security county jail in Castaic, and his bail has been increased to $300,000.
His next court date is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 30 at the Torrance Courthouse.
Police also believe that Chavez is connected to a car break-in and attempted hot-wired carjacking in Lot C that took place between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Noah Rivera, 21, a physical education major on campus that night to coach an Nfinity Volleyball Club practice, said his black 2001 GMC Sierra 1500 was broken into and that he found a bag of security cameras, not from ECC, in the truck bed.
The arson also disrupted the routines of both instructors and students, who had to resort to online lectures and cancelled classes instead of in-person sessions.
In-person classes for chemistry, physics and life sciences were cancelled on Monday, Oct. 6, and Tuesday, Oct. 7, due to the Science Complex being shut down.
Chemistry instructors and students had to pivot how classes are delivered following the Chemistry Building fire.
“We were instructed in chemistry to either go live online or to request a room change,” chemistry professor Soshanna Potter said.
Biology major Tiffany Sosa, 20, said the labs in her class had to be postponed and that the class disruption has been overwhelming.
“Because I was expecting to come to class, and you know, have all the material and information that I need… And so it’s overwhelming, because I have to see or learn on my own, like different things that I’ve missed because of it,” Sosa said.
The Chemistry Building remains closed until further notice while air quality tests and clean up efforts continue.
A Wednesday, Oct. 15, email sent by the Office of Marketing and Communications said that classes may resume in the south side of the Chemistry Building next week pending air quality test results.
Meanwhile, classes in the Life Sciences and Physics Buildings have resumed meeting in-person in those respective buildings.
Room change requests were handled based on priority, with classes that had exams that week being accommodated first.
For Potter, it meant two days of in-person instruction were lost.
“We missed a lecture day and a lab, but we’re making it up,” she said.
Mechanical engineering major Peter Ota, 18, said the fire did not impact his schedule because he takes an online class where labs are conducted through YouTube videos.
However, it has shifted his professor’s office hours.
“Now there’s only one day to sit with the professor. And I’m not available on the days he has office hours. Otherwise, the fire has not affected me.”
Reporter Keandra Lee and intern Joseph Marshall contributed to this story.
