Editorials

Man killed in San Jose home blast

The Associated Press
Tuesday February 13, 2001

SAN JOSE — An 18-year-old college student was killed in south San Jose in an explosion at his home Saturday afternoon. 

Patrick Wentsu Hsu, a freshman from University of California, Santa Barbara who was at home for the weekend, died in the blast at 4:30 p.m. No one else was in the house. 

San Jose police are investigating the explosion as a possible homicide, but have no suspects and no apparent motive. 

The front window was blown out and the bedroom where the explosion took place was damaged. His parents speculate that a bomb was sent to Hsu in a package addressed to him that arrived during the second week of January. Hsu’s parents gave the package to him when he arrived home, and it contained a robotic toy dog. 

Investigators would not say whether a mail bomb was responsible for the explosion, which they believe is an isolated incident. San Jose police spokesman Rubens Dalaison said the explosion was not related to the arrest of Al DeGuzman, the 19-year-old student who was arrested Jan. 30 for allegedly planning to plant bombs at his De Anza College campus in Cupertino.