On May 10, 2011, a tragedy unfolded in a parking garage at San Jose State University when 54-year-old Napoleon Lavarias Caliguiran committed a murder-suicide in what authorities classified as a domestic dispute. Just after 8:30 p.m., Caliguiran approached a car parked on the fifth level of the campus garage where his 25-year-old wife, Marcory “Cindy” Caliguiran, and her friend, 26-year-old Thomas Kyle Williams, were seated. Both were honors business students nearing graduation.
Caliguiran fired multiple shots into the vehicle, killing both occupants in what investigators deemed a targeted attack. He then turned the gun on himself and died later at a nearby hospital.
Neither police nor university officials characterized the event as random or gang-related. All three individuals were known to each other. Caliguiran had no publicly reported criminal history or known history of violence, and no prior domestic violence incidents were documented involving him and his wife.
The victims were described by classmates as high-achieving students. Cindy was a dedicated honors student often praised by peers and faculty, and Williams had earned a place on the President’s List with plans to begin a role at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Their deaths came just weeks before graduation.
In the days following the shooting, university officials offered grief counseling to students and faculty. Counseling and memorials were organized for the students impacted by the loss. The event marked the first recorded cases of homicide on SJSU’s downtown campus in its 150-year history. It also served as a sobering reminder of how domestic violence can erupt in public, trusted spaces—even at large commuter-based universities.
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