Two Killed in California School Shooting

Two Killed in California School Shooting

NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, March 6, 2001

SANTEE, Calif. (UPI) – Two youths were killed and 13 people were wounded at a suburban San Diego County high school Monday when a "smiling" student apparently carried out a threat he had made earlier and opened fire.

Students told reporters amid the chaos outside Santana High School that the youth had teasingly warned friends over the weekend that he was going to shoot up the school.

Chris Reynolds, a friend of a woman whose son, Josh, was a classmate of the alleged shooter, said he had been unnerved during the weekend when Josh told his mother of repeated statements the 15-year-old allegedly made to the effect that he planned to shoot someone at school.

Reynolds said he pressed the youth to the point of threatening to call the sheriff's department, but the suspect said he was joking, something he apparently did frequently.

"He laughs a lot," Reynolds told reporters before being whisked away for questioning by detectives. "He is always joking."

The youth's name was not released because he is a juvenile. District Attorney Paul Pfingst said he could be charged as an adult with murder.

Most of the 1,900 students who attend the school, about 15 miles east of San Diego, were changing classes when pops that many described as similar to the noise made by a cap pistol rang through the area around a small outdoor area called "the small quad."

Confused reports from students indicated the suspect opened fire inside a boys' restroom shortly before 9:30 a.m. PST and then turned his handgun on the quad. Among the wounded were school security staff members who had rushed to the scene.

"We heard shots and everybody started running," a student identified as Nicole told KGTV. "Almost every kid in the school was in the halls."

A student told reporters that he and one of the security people, who are known by students as "narcs," were in the restroom when the shooting began.

"He didn't shoot me, but he shot the narc behind me, and the narc fell on top of me," said the student, whose name was not immediately released.

Sheriff Bill Kolender released few details other than that one of his deputies was on campus to teach a class and was on the scene within minutes.

"When the deputy arrived on the scene, there were students on the grounds," Kolender said. "We don't know his motive."

Students and anxious parents jammed the parking lot of a shopping center across the street from the school as SWAT deputies continued to search the campus and evacuate the last of the students. Some parents told reporters they were frantically trying to make contact with their children by cellular telephone and pager.

A pizza parlor and fast-food restaurant in the center that are popular student hangouts became the scene of tearful reunions between parents and children and the command post for the SWAT operation.

"It's crazy over there," an unidentified parent told San Diego television station KGTV.

A student, John Sharp, told reporters that he ducked into a classroom next to the quad and was able to witness and photograph the shooting scene.

"He was smiling," Sharp said. "It was incredible to see him smiling."

Santana was built during the 1960s as the population of the San Diego area began spreading inland. The school has long been considered a safe campus and an athletic powerhouse.

"We have one of the lowest crime rates in Southern California," said Mayor Randy Voelpe. "When you wake up to something like this, it is really a tragedy."

Principal Karen Degischer said the school, which did not have metal detectors at its entrances, would be closed today.

"This is my worst nightmare," she said. "I am very concerned with the welfare of our students and my staff."

While Monday's attack stirred up memories of the infamous 1999 shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Colorado, San Diego County was the scene of one of the nation's earliest and most notorious shootings, which also occurred on a winter Monday morning. In January 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer opened fire from her bedroom window in San Diego at Cleveland Elementary School across the street. The sniper fire killed the school principal and another staff member and left nine children injured.

When Spencer was arrested and pressed for the reason she had committed the shooting, Spencer told San Diego police: "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day."

At the White House, President Bush said he was "saddened" by the "disgraceful act of cowardice."

"Our hearts go out and our prayers go out to the parents and the teachers," Bush said.

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