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A Gilroy man was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence Tuesday night after his Mustang plunged into a ditch off Leavesley Road, killing four passengers and seriously injuring himself, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Students at Los Paseos Elementary School were evacuated earlier today after San Jose Police Department’s SWAT team set up a command post in front of the school in order to extract a man from a nearby house, according to district officials.The elementary school, located at 121 Avenida Grande, was first placed on lockdown at 9:45 a.m. May 12. Students were directed by staff to exit the rear of the school, walk through the adjacent park and into the back gate of Martin Murphy Middle School a little after 11 a.m. Martin Murphy is located less than half a mile away from the elementary school, at 141 Avenida Espana.Once the students were moved out of Los Paseos, the police moved in on the targeted house and extracted the suspect, according to Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent Steve Betando.The district immediately sent out a ConnectEd automated phone alert notifying parents of Los Paseos students what was occurring. Those parents were also given the option of picking up their students at Martin Murphy or leaving them at school for the remainder of the day, according to Betando.“Some parents elected to pick up their children and others did not,” said Betando, who was in constant contact with SJPD as the events transpired.SJPD positioned more than 20 vehicles at their command post in front of the school, Betando added.Once the suspect was in custody, the elementary school students returned to Los Paseos for the remainder of the school day.San Jose Police did not immediately reply to phone calls or an email requesting more information about the wanted suspect and police action.Check back for updates to this story.

Christopher High School held a candlelight vigil in honor of 15-year-old Natalia Salcido, who was killed in a car accident May 9. Salcido was a sophomore at the school and a member of the cheer and dance team. More than 1,000 people attended the vigil to honor and remember Salcido's life on Monday evening.

Jess Brown is the new executive director of the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, the agricultural organization announced Monday.Brown lives in Santa Cruz and is the head of the Santa Cruz Farm Bureau. He will continue in that role while serving in his new post, the Farm Bureau said in a press release.Brown said he’s excited to help promote area agriculture for the nonprofit that promotes agriculture in Santa Clara County.“I look forward to being a part of the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau; I've admired the organization for many years,” Brown said. “I already know and respect a number of local growers and am excited about working with them to promote and protect the illustrious history of agriculture in Santa Clara County,” the new executive director said.“We feel fortunate to have someone with Brown's experience and familiarity with local agricultural issues as our executive director,” Farm Bureau President Erin Gil said.Previously, Brown worked on the development of a map that lists the locations and products of all farms in Santa Clara, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties that sell directly to the public, the press release states.Brown has served in leadership roles on boards of multiple local nonprofits, according to the press release. He is taking over from former executive director Elizabeth Gabrio, who started with the bureau in August 2014.

Auto theft

About 10 acres of vegetation burned on a steep hillside in San Martin May 11, briefly threatening nearby homes before firefighters were able to contain the fire.

Thefts of catalytic converters—part of the emissions-cleansing system found in most vehicles—are on the rise in Morgan Hill, according to police.In the last week alone, 14 such thefts have been reported locally, according to MHPD Sgt. Carson Thomas.“The neighborhoods that have been hit are in the Coyote Estates (area) and off of Fountain Oaks Drive,” Thomas said. Those neighborhoods are in eastern Morgan Hill.MHPD released a video of a May 9 incident, captured by a home surveillance camera. The 24-second video clip shows two possibly male subjects approach a white sport-utility vehicle at nighttime. One of the suspects, wearing light colored clothing and holding a flashlight, crawled under the vehicle while the other walked around the other side of the vehicle and out of the view of the camera.Catalytic converters contain precious metals, which can bring cash to thieves who find willing buyers for the stolen items at recycling centers, police explained. The devices convert exhaust fumes through a chemical process.“It only takes a minute or two for a thief to saw your catalytic converter from underneath your vehicle,” Thomas said.Almost all of the recent victim vehicles in Morgan Hill have been Toyota trucks or SUVs, police said. These vehicles sit higher off the ground and are easy for a thief to crawl under.The recent rash of thefts follows a series of similar incidents in Gilroy, where police reported 13 catalytic converter thefts in one week as of April 22. On April 13, a thief or thieves stole 11 of the devices, mostly from Toyota Sequoia SUVs parked in private driveways, according to Gilroy police.MPHD offers the following advice to deter potential catalytic converter thieves:• Park your vehicle inside the garage if possible.• Have your local mechanic install a “safety bar” across the catalytic converter. These devices can significantly slow down an attempted theft and discourage suspects.• Engrave your Vehicle Identification Number into the catalytic converter.Anyone with information about recent thefts can call Morgan Hill Police at (408) 779-2101 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867.

Police are looking for two suspected thieves whose faces were captured in video surveillance footage during unrelated incidents in Morgan Hill.In the first theft, police said a woman reported a man stole her bicycle May 7 outside the Goodwill store on the 17000 block of Monterey Road. The victim said she left the bike outside the store as she went inside, and it was gone when she exited the store.The bicycle is a green 21-speed Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike, according to Morgan Hill police. Investigators were able to retrieve a photograph of a person of interest in the case from camera footage inside Goodwill.“Morgan Hill police want to remind everyone to lock up their bikes when they are unattended,” reads a MHPD press release.In a separate incident May 9 in an east Morgan Hill neighborhood, a resident captured a photograph of a man who stole a package from the victim’s front porch, police said.That theft took place on the 300 block of East Central Avenue, according to police. The box had recently been dropped off by a package delivery service.The victim also took a photograph of a vehicle that might have been associated to the thief, police said.The vehicle appears to be an unknown make of mini-van in the grainy photograph.“The Morgan Hill Police Department wants to remind our community to make sure if you have packages delivered to your home or business to make every attempt to have someone there to receive the item,” reads a MHPD press release.Anyone with information about either theft can call Morgan Hill police at (408) 779-2101 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867.

A Christopher High School sophomore was killed in a Gilroy car wreck on Saturday when the vehicle she was in with two schoolmates veered off Miller Avenue and smashed into a tree.

GILROY—Mike Dovenberg has been named the head coach of the Gavilan College football team, the school announced Thursday.