School shooting arraignment postponed

Returning students talk about fears

In this story: Suspect's family not in court 'We will survive' Columbine counselors in Santee Suspect's brother shocked by shooting RELATED STORIES, SITES

EL CAJON, California -- A judge Wednesday postponed the arraignment of a teen-ager accused of the shooting rampage at Santana High School.

GALLERY Images of the aftermath of the Santana High School shooting in Santee, California    VIDEO Suspect's grief-stricken mother comments on her son and the Santana shooting Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Officials discuss the shootings at Satana High School (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 More Video   AUDIO Santana High School student John Schardt gives his account of the shooting 1.3MB/62 sec. AIFF or WAV sound A female student gives her account of the shooting on Monday at Santana High School 1.3MB/62 sec. AIFF or WAV sound   RESOURCES Diagram of the shooting scene List of victims Timeline of recent school shootings Risk factors for school violence Talking about school violence Santee, California, and Santana High School profiles Gallup Poll: Parents on school shootings   ALSO California students arrested after 'hit list,' rifle found One wounded in Pennsylvania high school shooting CNNfyi: Why violence? When trauma comes home Suspect captured within 6 minutes of first report Risk factors for school violence   MESSAGE BOARD Violence in America

While Charles Andrew Williams, 15, was making his first court appearance, students were trying to resume classes at the Santee, California, school where Williams is accused of shooting 15 people, killing two, on Monday.

Arraignment was rescheduled for March 26 after Williams' court-appointed attorney, Randy Meiss, asked for more time to review the complaint against his client.

Williams is being held without bail.

Kristin Anton, the deputy district attorney for San Diego County, said Williams would be charged in a 28-count complaint, including two counts of murder with special circumstances and 13 counts of attempted and premeditated murder.

If convicted of all the charges, Williams could face 500 years to life in prison. Because of his age, he is not eligible for the death penalty, Anton said.

Suspect's family not in court

Williams wore a baggy orange jumpsuit, looked nervously around the courtroom, but did not say a word. None of Williams' relatives attended the hearing and his defense team said the family was not up to facing the media.

Meiss described the suspect's father, who spent half an hour earlier visiting his son in juvenile hall, as "tremendously distraught."

County Superior Court Judge Herbert J. Exarhos agreed with prosecutors that because of the charges against Williams, he is not entitled to bail.

"I don't hate him for what he did," said cheerleader Courtney Guthaus. "I just want to know why."

'We will survive'

Just hours earlier Wednesday, students and teachers returned to Santana High School, a 1,900-student school in suburban San Diego. Bloodstains in the bathroom where the shooting began had been painted over and bullet holes in the stucco buildings had been patched.

"It looks the same," said Jake Clarke, a 14-year-old freshman, "but it doesn't feel the same."

Some students held hand and clutched flowers or balloons as they entered the school where more than 30 rounds from a .22-caliber revolver were fired two days earlier.

"We will survive," read one handwritten sign outside the school.

Morghon Liddel, 15, said he was not ready to return. "I think it's too soon. How are we supposed to walk by the bathroom or through the hallway and not think about it?" he said.

Four of the students who were shot were back in class. Three other victims remained hospitalized, all in good condition.

Columbine counselors in Santee

About 150 counselors -- some of whom worked at Columbine High School after the shooting there in 1999 -- were assigned to the school, one to each classroom.

"The first priority will be to begin the healing process," said Granger Ward, superintendent of the district. "There's a lot of anger. There's a lot of grief. There's a lot of sadness."

But the day began bleakly for some students when they learned of another shooting in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where an eighth-grade girl allegedly wounded a female classmate at a Roman Catholic school.

"We keep hearing about more things that are happening. It's crazy," 15-year-old student Cory Martinez said. "It's scary to go to school, but I can't say I feel safe anywhere right now."

Three students who had allegedly known about the attack beforehand were told to stay off campus by school authorities.

Ward said three students were not allowed to return to class because police and school district officials were still investigating the shooting.

Among them was Vanessa Willis, a 15-year-old neighbor of Williams who said she had heard his threats but thought they were a joke.

When asked if she thought classmates would be mad at her, she said, "I don't really care. ... I feel bad for everyone that was hurt and everything, but they want to be mad at me. ... They don't know the whole story."

Suspect's brother shocked by shooting

Randy Gordon, 17, and Bryan Zuckor, 14, were killed in Monday's attack.

Bryan's mother, Michelle Zuckor, told KFMB-TV in San Diego that she tried to call her son after hearing of the shooting.

"I was on my cell phone. I was trying to call him, but he wouldn't answer," she said. "He was such a loving person. He would always say, `I love you, Mom"'

Investigators said Williams was filled with anger when he was arrested and expressed no remorse. Friends have said he was constantly picked on. He was so skinny that some people called him "Anorexic Andy."

Williams' older brother said the boy was used to being teased.

"He has big ears and he's real skinny," Michael Williams, 20, a student at the Art Institute of Atlanta, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "People like to pick on him. It was like that as long as I could remember."

The older Williams said he never imagined his brother would shoot anyone.

The image of a rage-filled adolescent shooting classmates perplexed friends and acquaintances who knew Williams as a happy-go-lucky kid in Brunswick, Maryland, the town of 5,700 where he lived before moving with his father last summer to Southern California. His parents divorced 10 years ago.

Art Fairweather, principal of Brunswick Middle School, said Williams was on the honor roll.

"His grades were always good," Fairweather said. "He seemed to have a lot of friends, and he appeared to be well-adjusted."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Investigators: Teen 'reloaded 4 times'
March 5, 2001
Detroit high school shooting injures 3
March 2, 2001
Student dies after shooting outside Baltimore high school
January 17 2001
Student killed in Michigan elementary school shooting
February 29, 2000
Suspect in custody after school shooting in Oklahoma
December 6, 1999

Santana High School
San Diego County Sheriff's Office
Federal Bureau of Investigation

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