Crime spree leads cops to booby-trapped home rigged to explode, California officials say
Noxious gas engulfed officers as they stepped inside a Gilroy, California, home. Propane spewed out of the kitchen stove, and the unlit burners were on high, officials said.
Nauseous from the fumes, the officers looked around, noticing cell phones strewn about the floor “in a possible attempt to remotely ignite a fire,” officials said.
“The chimneys and fireplace were plugged,” the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said, recounting the scene in a news release. The whole house appeared “rigged as an explosive booby trap.”
What brought the police to the home that day was a series of strange events that unfolded in the days prior. The owner of the home, Markus Beck, a 46-year-old software engineer, had been on a crime spree, officials said.
On Feb. 26, Beck showed up at Luigi Aprea Elementary School down the street from his house, asking to speak with a female staff member who he believed worked there, the Gilroy Police Department said in a Facebook post. He then loitered on the school grounds for some time after, police said.
On Feb. 28, he got into a car crash while drunk, according to the district attorney’s office.
He had “collided with several parked cars and fled the scene,” police said.
When officers found him, officials said they found a loaded gun at his feet. A search of his vehicle revealed an AR-15-style assault rifle in the trunk, officials said.
was arrested on charges of DUI, hit-and-run and illegal storage of firearms, police said.
Based on the two incidents, police obtained a gun violence restraining order later in the day on Feb. 28 to seize any other weapons. With the search warrant, they went to the man’s home.
This is when officials said police walked into the gas-filled “booby trap.”
Police called firefighters to the home, and nearby homes and Luigi Aprea Elementary School were placed on lockdown, police said.
Advocating For Gilroy Students told KRON that school officials did not inform parents about the incident on Feb. 26.
A protest organized by parents and community members will be held on March 7, according to KRON. The organizing group said it represents hundreds of local families “who want more transparency from the school district over student safety matters.”
“Luigi parents were not notified or given ANY details until Wednesday evening (Feb. 28), and even then the details were completely downplayed,” one person wrote under a statement by Gilroy police on Facebook. “This is so wrong that the parents have been completely in the dark.”
Gilroy Unified District Superintendent Anisha Munshi and City of Gilroy administrator Jimmy Forbis said in a statement that “premature disclosure of details about an ongoing investigation can potentially impede law enforcement efforts and jeopardize criminal prosecution.”
“The City and GUSD are committed to providing accurate and timely information to the community in a manner that does not jeopardize law enforcement’s ability to conduct investigations,” officials said.
Beck is also facing a series of weapons charges while being held without bail, officials said.
Gilroy is about a 40-mile drive east from Santa Cruz.
This story was originally published March 7, 2024 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Crime spree leads cops to booby-trapped home rigged to explode, California officials say."