Four years after terrorizing two college campuses by shooting two people, 29-year-old Anthony Beltran pleaded guilty Thursday.

He was charged with four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of possessing a gun on school grounds and two counts of burglary.

He first fired two shots from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun at Modesto Junior College about 11:45 a.m. March 24, 1999. He hit no one, although students later told police they’d heard gunshots.

Beltran then shot Zachary Smith, then 20. About 12:15 p.m. Smith was sitting near the college art department when he heard a loud bang, followed by pain in his right arm. He never saw Beltran.

The following day, a 36-year-old woman was shot in the side about 6 p.m. at California State University, Stanislaus, as she walked along the second floor of the university’s Demergasso-Bava Professional Schools Building.

Both victims were treated at local hospitals and released.

Beltran was arrested at his Modesto home four days later. His father, a retired Modesto police officer, told investigators he didn’t know his son owned a gun, which had been purchased legally at a local shop.

Authorities remain unsure about the motive behind the shootings. Beltran attended the college in 1995, but did not know the victim. He had no prior criminal history.

Although Beltran was arrested in 1999, the case remained open until Thursday because his mental competence was questioned.

Defense lawyers Graylin Bryant and Kent Faulkner asserted to Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami that Beltran was competent to plead guilty. Prosecutor Richard Gore agreed.

Belrtan will be sentenced Aug. 28.

Immediately after the shooting at the university, police tried to evacuate evening classes in session, but were soon overwhelmed. “It was certainly something we’d never experienced before on campus,” said campus public safety spokesperson Lt. Steve Jaureguy. “And it certainly pointed out areas we needed to improve.”

He said discussions during the following weeks changed the way officials respond to emergencies. Each building now has a designated monitor, who communicates with dispatch and leads evacuations. Classrooms received placards explaining evacuation procedure.

Every year, once in the fall and once in the spring, the university practices by running campus-wide evacuation drills.

The way police officers train for similar situations changed dramatically. Previously, Jaureguy said, training emphasized setting up a perimeter and calling in reinforcements. “Our response was to hold back a while. But now we set up small teams that enter a building to confront an active shooter.”

And the Demergasso-Bava Building, where the shooting took place, has physically changed. “We installed mirrors to allow people to see around the corners of the hallways,” said Jaureguy.

“I’m not saying it would’ve prevented the shooting. But afterwards people kept saying they just couldn’t see around the corners in that building.”