Former Cal Poly student sentenced to prison for shooting guns on campus
A former Cal Poly student was sentenced to more than six years in state prison for shooting a firearm on campus, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office said.
On Oct. 27, 2023, Charles Vincent Hojaboom “fired a bolt-action rifle while inside of his dorm room,” the news release said. “Investigators later discovered a bullet had traveled from inside of Hojaboom’s dorm room, through the ceiling and into the dorm room directly above.”
No one was injured in the shooting.
Hojaboom pleaded no contest to multiple criminal charges, including shooting at an inhabited dwelling, discharging a firearm with gross negligence, vandalism and five counts of possessing a loaded firearm on a college campus.
“The defendant’s plea to the crime of discharging a firearm with gross negligence included his further admission that he ‘personally used’ a deadly or dangerous weapon,” the release said. “Because of that admission, and because he also pled no contest to shooting at an inhabited dwelling, Hojaboom now stands convicted of two separate ‘strikes’ under California’s Three Strikes Law.”
Students caught shooting guns on campus
Videos shown in court showed Hojaboom shooting with a rifle on Cal Poly’s campus at least three times before he and then-Cal Poly student Brandon Pham were arrested by Cal Poly police on Nov. 11, 2023, when officers found the two along Poly Canyon Road in possession of a shotgun, a loaded, concealed pistol and a knife.
The officers also found a nearby campus sign with bullet holes. The two students were roommates at Poly Canyon Village Apartments on campus.
Pham pleaded no contest to three felony counts of possession of a loaded firearm on a college campus and felony shooting at an inhabited dwelling on Aug. 14, court records showed. His other charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to 210 days in County Jail in September.
Hojaboom’s sentence was more severe.
Cal Poly student sentenced to state prison
San Luis Obispo Supreior Court Judge Catherine Swysen sentenced Hojaboom to six years and two months in state prison.
“Based on his time already served in county jail since he committed the crimes, the Court awarded Hojaboom 1,472 total days of custody credits towards his sentence,” the release said.
That adds up to more than four years. He will serve the rest of his sentence in state prison.
“While we are grateful that no one was injured by these crimes of violence, the safety of everyone on our school and university campuses is of utmost importance,” District Attorney Dan Dow said in the release. “Gun violence like this will be vigorously prosecuted to appropriately punish the individual and to deter others from committing such crimes.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2025 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Former Cal Poly student sentenced to prison for shooting guns on campus."
