GUNS/BARMS

[Matey]

Think about this..............

http://www.inlandempireonline.com/news/ap/20010309/WST_School_Shooting_17041N.shtml

District bars alleged shooter's friends from school
By CHELSEA J. CARTER
The Associated Press
SANTEE

Four students who heard Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams threaten to shoot classmates and failed to report him will be barred from Santana High School for the rest of the year for their own safety, officials said.

"This is not a punitive action," Superintendent Granger Ward of the Grossmont Union High School District said Thursday. "There have been comments made that raised my level of concern ... about their safety."

He said school officials are helping the four find other schools to attend, as well as investigating whether any others heard of Williams' threats in advance but said nothing.

"This will be a long-term investigation," he said.

Williams, 15, allegedly opened fire on students at the suburban San Diego campus on Monday morning, killing two boys and wounding 13 other people during a six-minute rampage.

Several people said they heard Williams talk of planning to shoot up the school on Monday but passed it off as one of his frequent jokes. Students and community members have expressed anger over their failure to notify authorities.

Williams' best friend, Josh Stevens, has said he was among those Williams talked to about his plans. He received an anonymous call earlier this week warning him not to return to campus, said Chris Reynolds, the boyfriend of Stevens' mother.

"He feels pretty bad for Andy's friends and how they're being treated," he said of Stevens.

Reynolds, 29, said he also heard about the threat but when he confronted Williams the teen-ager assured him he was only joking. He added that he has been told not to return to his job at a home improvement store until media coverage of the tragedy blows over.

"I don't know even if they'll let me come back," he said.

Meanwhile, a memorial service for the victims was being organized for Friday evening at a Santee church. Gov. Gray Davis was to speak, as was his wife, Sharon, a 1972 Santana graduate.

Funerals for the slain students, Randy Gordon and Bryan Zuckor, were planned for the weekend.

Most of the school's 1,900 students have returned to classes, which resumed Wednesday. Two teachers were out sick the first day, including one Ward said suffered a mild heart attack during the tragedy.

As life began to slowly return to normal, school administrators and others continued to ponder what else they might have done to head off the shooting.

Santana had implemented a number of security measures after a 1999 shooting at Colorado's Columbine High School killed 13 people and wounded 23 others.

The school began to provide anonymous sign-in sheets for students to report threats, the principal took special weapons and tactics training, and programs to help students get along were instituted, including one called "Names Can Really Hurt Us."

Several people said Williams was constantly teased because of his small stature, big ears and inability to fit in with any particular group.

Extra phones, radios and speakers were also installed to spread word of trouble quickly, and a San Diego County Sheriff's deputy was assigned to the school part-time, along with seven full-time campus supervisors. One of those supervisors was wounded Monday.

"We were so prepared, but it still happened," Santana's shaken principal, Karen Degischer, told parents at a meeting Wednesday night.

The question now is: Is any kind of preparation ever enough?

"I think what we have to say here is there are no guarantees a tragedy can be prevented," said Pam Riley, former director of the Center for the Prevention of School Violence in Raleigh, N.C.

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......They have to remove Williams friends from that school FOR THIER OWN SAFETY. It's not about guns, it's about a blatant disrespect for life by our young.

Matey