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Teenager Appears In Court After Deadly U.S. School Shooting
EL CAJON, California, March 7 (News Agencies) - A 15-year-old student charged with shooting two classmates dead and wounding 13 others made his first court appearance Wednesday and was ordered held without bail until a new hearing later this month.
Dressed in a faded prison jumpsuit, Charles "Andy" Williams looked nervously at the floor during most of the 10-minute hearing, as his two court-appointed lawyers and the prosecutor discussed charges in the grisly case.
But his arraignment was postponed to March 26th to allow his lawyers to consider a legal challenge.
The slight, baby-faced teenager faces 28 charges, including two counts of murder, 13 of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Under a new law approved by voters in November, the ninth-grade student will be automatically tried in adult court, despite his young age.
But "if he's convicted on all the charges ... he will be looking at over 500 years to life," said prosecutor Kristin Anton.
None of the boy's family attended Wednesday's hearing, though his father visited him at Juvenile Hall, public defender Randy Mize said.
"His father is tremendously distraught," Mize said. "They didn't feel they could face the media."
Witnesses say Williams began firing at random Monday with his father's .22-caliber pistol at Santana High School in the nearby San Diego suburb of Santee.
Police said he fired 30 shots as students ran screaming. Students Brian Zuckor, 14, and Randy Gordon, 15, died, while eleven other students and two staff members were wounded.
Meanwhile, Santana High tried to hasten the return to normal life Wednesday by re-opening for the first time since Monday's carnage, with counselors on hand to help its 1,900 students deal with their grief.
But officials urged three students who apparently knew in advance of Andy's planned murderous mayhem to stay away.
"I believe it is not in the interest of those three to be on campus," said school district superintendent Granger Ward.
The attack was the worst gun violence at a U.S. school since the April 1999 massacre in Littleton, Colorado, when two high school students murdered 12 classmates and a teacher before turning their weapons on themselves.
Monday's rampage apparently inspired several copycat incidents.
In Williamsport, Pennsylvania a girl was wounded and a female suspect was in custody Wednesday after a shooting at a Roman Catholic high school.
On Tuesday, two 17-year-olds were arrested in the desert community of Twentynine Palms, California, and weapons were seized after the boys were overheard talking about a "hit list."
Students, staff, family members and residents continued to gather Wednesday at flower-laden memorials outside Santana High's school grounds to pray, embrace each other or simply try to come to terms with Monday's brief but devastating violence.
Williams had recently moved from Maryland to the San Diego suburb of 58,000, where he lived with his divorced father. The .22-caliber, long-rifle "Arminius" revolver belonged to his father, police said.
Students said classmates often made fun of the scrawny new kid, who appeared younger than his age and weighed in at a meager 60 kilograms (100 pounds).
On Monday morning, Andy Williams skipped his drama class, went into a boy's bathroom where he shot one student in the back of the head, killing him, police said.
Witnesses said Williams was "grinning" as he fired, though those who knew him said that was not unusual because he always smiled.
Police were on the scene immediately, and cornered him in the boy's bathroom where the shooting started.
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