-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Two Killed, 13 Wounded In School Shooting Near San Diego Monday, March 5, 2001 A gunman opened fire at a high school near San Diego Monday morning, killing two students and injuring 13 other people. FOXNews.com A 15-year-old male student has been taken into custody, according to the San Diego County sheriff's department. While authorities would not confirm the identity of the suspect, student eyewitnesses at Santana High School in Santee, Calif., told Fox News the gunman was a male freshman student. Authorities confirmed that one student died on the scene. A second fatality, a 15-year-old male student, died at Grossmont Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Eileen Cornish said. Seven victims taken to Sharp Hospital were in stable condition and had not sustained life-threatening injuries, KGTV reported. Several of the victims may be adult staff members. A sheriff's deputy who was reported wounded was injured during an unrelated incident, officials said. San Diego County District Attorney Paul Fingst said Monday that the juvenile suspect would most likely be tried in adult court, unless further investigation uncovered mitigating circumstances. The suspect could face charges of murder, assault, assault with a deadly weapon and use of a gun, Fingst said. Fingst said a task force comprised of personnel from the district attorney's office, the sheriff's department, the local police and federal investigators were in the process of interviewing "literally hundreds and hundreds" of witnesses. Another student, Josh Stevens, was reportedly taken into custody for questioning. Stevens is not a suspect, but was reportedly told of the shooting by the suspect. Stevens told reporters Monday that the suspect asked him if he wanted to participate in the shooting, but then said he was only joking. The fatal shootings took place in the boys' restroom and on the quadrangle of Santana High School at about 9:30 Pacific Time. Witnesses said the gunman began shooting in the bathroom and then turned his fire onto the quadrangle. Santana student John Schardt, 17, told KFMB that he heard shots ring out at about 9:20 a.m. while he was in a nearby classroom, and that he took video footage of the shooter. The police confiscated Schardt's tape. "I looked at the kid, and he was smiling and shooting his weapon," said Schardt. "Everyone was running away ... I saw one student go down. He was lying in the middle of the quad." The gunman, upon emptying his long-barreled pistol, went into the bathroom to reload and came back out firing, according to Schardt. Schardt did not know the gunman's name, but had seen him in school previously. Andrew Kaforey, a 17-year-old Santana senior, said he ran into the bathroom with a security guard after hearing what sounded like a firecracker or a gunshot. FOXNews.com Monday: An unidentified youth is carried on a stretcher in the wake of the Santana High School shootings. "He pointed the gun right at me but he didn't shoot," Kaforey said. As he and the guard ran out, the gunman shot the guard in the back, Kaforey said. Kaforey's 14-year-old brother, Jacob, said a boy they believe was the gunman had talked earlier about how he owned a gun, although other students hadn't seen the weapon. The boy also had talked about stealing a car and going to Mexico, Jacob said. Gunman Warned of Shooting Students who knew the accused shooter said the teenager had bragged Sunday night that he was planning the shooting. When they pressed him, however, he said he was only joking. Chris Reynolds, an adult who knows the alleged shooter, said the boy had been talking last week about shooting people, but assured his friends and Reynolds that he wasn't serious. "Everybody can't believe that he actually did it," Reynolds told KGTV. "He said he was just joking." "I do regret that I didn't do something because I should've stepped up even if it wasn't true and stuff to take that precaution," Reynolds said. "If someone did die over there and stuff that's going to be haunting me for a long time, that's going to be with me for a long time. It just hurts because I could've maybe done something about it." Reynolds described the shooter as the type of boy who was picked on at school, but also that he had "a lot of friends" and a "good attitude." He added said one of the boy's friends even checked the shooter's knapsack Monday morning to make sure it did not contain a weapon. Chaos and Tragedy Student Rachelle Ackerman told reporters that about three minutes before the bell was scheduled to ring, she heard the gunfire. "I ran into the office. I started yelling, 'Gun! Call 911! Someone's been shot.'" "It sounded like fireworks, or a popgun ... then you just heard people yell 'run' and I started running," said Pam Hanson, 16, a junior. Student Alicia Zimmer saw a boy lying face down on the floor, a girl with blood on her arm and another with blood on her hands, she told KGTV. She said she heard shots but didn't see a shooter. "They sounded more like a capgun," she said of the noise. "I dropped my stuff; it's still there right in the middle of the hall. It was really scary," she said. Several students cried as they left the school. "I just heard the shots and students were running and running. I thought it was a joke or something," said Ruben Martinez, senior, 18. Martinez's mother came to get him in the parking lot, leaving her job at an electronics plant in nearby Sorrento Valley, where a co-worker had heard about it on radio. "I just had to leave right away and see if he was OK," Sylvia Martinez said. Santana High School Principal Karen Degischer said Monday that Santana did not use metal detectors but did employ a private security staff. Degischer described Santana's staff and student body as a "close-knit" group. She said the school had a long-standing plan in place to deal with this type of crisis situation; asked if a school could ever be prepared for something like this, Degischer responded, "No." "I am concerned for my students, I am concerned for their families and I'm concerned for my staff," Degischer said. President Bush, told of the shooting Monday afternoon, called the incident a "disgraceful act of cowardice." "All adults in society can teach children right from rong and teach them that life is precious," Bush said. "But first things first, our prayers go with the families." Santana High School opened its doors to students for the first time on Sept. 20, 1965. It serves more that 1,900 students in grades nine through twelve. — The Associated Press contributed to this report *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
