Rape of La Mesa Girl, 11, Shocks Students, Teachers : Crime: Volunteers begin street patrols around school in wake of violent assault on sixth-grader.

Cal Strickland is still haunted by the scene he encountered while en route to school Thursday morning--the image of a man walking near busy Fletcher Parkway, his hand on the shoulder of a young boy carrying a violin case.

Strickland, principal of Parkway Middle School in La Mesa, thought there was something strange about the pair walking near the school’s playing field, especially in light of “all the kooks who expose themselves to the kids around here.”

So the 19-year veteran administrator parked his car and took a walk around the school grounds, asking about the little boy with the violin case.

But as Strickland and the rest of the school community were soon to learn, that “boy” was actually an 11-year-old girl--one of his own students--who was raped by that same stranger only moments after being spotted by the attentive principal.

On Friday, parents, students, teachers and even police investigators expressed shock over the assault, in which the sixth-grader was grabbed about 8:15 a.m. as she walked up a set of wooden stairs at Amaya Drive and Fletcher Parkway leading to the rear of the school grounds.

The girl was dragged to a brushy area near the playing field and sexually attacked by the man who had followed her for at least a block before overpowering her. He reportedly struck the child several times, leaving bruises on her forehead, authorities say.

“Now I wish I’d gone right back down there as soon as I saw them,” Strickland said Friday afternoon, standing outside his office as the strains of several unschooled clarinets wafted from the nearby gymnasium.

“But I only got a glimpse of them. It didn’t seem that stressful. It was almost casual. The guy had his hand on what I thought was a boy’s shoulder. Now I know that all the while he was threatening that little girl to keep walking or he would hurt her or kill her.”

By Thursday afternoon, only hours after the rape was reported, concerned parents began to volunteer their time to patrol streets around the suburban school--where more than two-thirds of 850 students either walk or are dropped off each morning by their parents.

More parents who later attended an annual “Back to School Night” also volunteered after 400 of them were given details of the attack by school administrators and La Mesa police.

School counselors also met with distraught students who were particularly close to the victim. On Thursday, teachers in each homeroom talked with students about the importance of being safety conscious.

School officials also sent home with students a letter to parents outlining several precautions such as having their children walk to school with a buddy, not to talk with strangers or arrive at school before 8:30 a.m. when supervisors arrive.

“We have to rely on you to provide for the safety of your child from home to the school campus or to the bus stop,” the letter said.

Officials also closed off the stairway where the girl was attacked and advised that all students enter school grounds from the front entrance.

On Friday, Bob Bush said he didn’t mind playing school bus driver for his 12-year-old granddaughter.

Like other parents, he’s afraid about what lurks outside the safety of school grounds--even though six plain-clothed detectives had cased the area earlier that morning before school started.

He grimaced as he talked about the rape. Nothing like that should ever happen to any woman, he said. But an 11-year-old girl?

“It must be some kind of animal out there,” he said.

Kenneth Harris, a La Mesa police investigator, agreed.

“Any rape case is bad, but here’s a young child who’s not even a teen-ager, who’s walking the street, minding her own business,” he said. “I mean, this guy’s got a real problem because this little girl didn’t even look like a teen-ager. She looked more like 8 or 9 years old.”

La Mesa police, who have assigned a team of five investigators to the case, said they have already received more than 50 telephone calls from parents with tips on the possible identity of the attacker.

Authorities describe their suspect as white, 5-foot-8, weighing about 150 pounds. He has muscular forearms and dark brown hair, which he wears in a butch cut except for two inches of curly locks on the nape of his neck.

The assailant reportedly was wearing faded blue jeans, white sneakers and a white button-down shirt with pink and gray stripes. He also has a slight case of acne on his cheekbones, police said.

“It’s many, many years since I’ve seen something like this and it makes me sick,” said Detective Sgt. Chuck Braddy, head of the investigative team. “It’s been a good 12 years since I’ve seen a victim so young, raped by a stranger.”

Barbera Garcia, a Parkway Middle School counselor, said several students have expressed concern for the victim. “One girl said it was all she could think about the entire day--what her friend must have gone through,” Garcia said. “She said she was so dizzy, she couldn’t concentrate on her schoolwork.”

Assistant Principal Tracy Manning said the attack has made everyone feel vulnerable.

“This little girl was innocently walking to school, looking forward to a day of learning and then she has to go through something like that,” she said. “I can’t think of anything more innocent on the entire earth--a little girl walking to school.

“I’m so angered by this I can’t think of an adjective to describe a man who would stoop so low to do such a thing to a young child.”

On Friday afternoon, seventh-grader Chris Moro recalled being angry when Manning interrupted the student lunch the day before to tell children about the attack.

“I was mad,” he said. “I’d like to turn this guy in to the cops. He’s disgusting. He should be put in jail and never let out.”

A few feet away, a mother who sat in her car waiting to pick up her daughter didn’t seem as concerned. “It’s a Jewish holiday and I’m home cooking, it’s the only reason I’m here,” she said.

“Crime happens everyplace. So I’m not concerned. It was random happenstance. For me and my child, it’s business as usual, pal.” And then she drove off.

Rondi Prescott wasn’t so sure. Her sixth-grade daughter sits directly in front of the injured girl in class, she said, and she has heard firsthand how a rape can affect an 11-year-old child.

“Usually, the girl’s eighth-grade brother walks to school with her every morning but he was sick or something that day,” she said.

“Actually, she had a friend stay overnight at her house last night so she’s handling all this pretty well. It’s her mother, who’s a single parent, who’s taking it badly.”

Prescott said that numerous parents planned to begin driving their children to and from school for the time being. “We’re all in desperate fear for our children. I mean, it happened in broad daylight.”

Like other parents, she called for the school to begin a program where working parents can drop their children early as they leave for their jobs.

“Other schools have it, so should this one,” said mother Jenni Mendel as she waited for her daughter outside the school. “There’s too many budget cutbacks around here. That’s the reason there’s so many walkers. Because the bus program went under the budget ax.”

For now, though, Prescott said, it’s time to start the emotional healing of a little girl who had endured a day most adults would deplore.

“My daughter had me pick up a little stuffed animal for her friend,” she said. “She said she liked cats. That and this card.”

It showed the picture of a little girl, a fairy tale character, watering some pretty flowers. “I’m so glad our friendship blossomed,” it read.

“Even if that little girl seems like she’s OK, I’m still worried,” Prescott said. “Because the scars from something like this go very, very deep.”