School Assaults Bring Tragedy to Compton

The stray bullet struck and killed 11-year-old Alejandro Vargas as he stood at the heart of his school campus--on the front lawn beneath the flagpole and only a few feet from the school office, where a sign proclaims: “Education--a Valuable Resource.”

Parents, school administrators and students at Ralph J. Bunche Middle School in Compton agreed Wednesday that Alejandro was an innocent victim. Described by a neighbor as “the sweetest thing this side of heaven,” he had been killed the day before when alleged gang members opened fire on Compton School District Police.

But in another sense, Alejandro’s death was not entirely a surprise--it was only the latest in a series of bloody incidents at Compton schools, where district officials have launched a comprehensive anti-gang campaign aimed at fourth- and fifth-graders.

In the past year, an elementary school janitor has been killed, a Compton High student has been shot in the face, a Centennial High student was wounded by a fellow student, and another Centennial student was killed, all in shootings on or near Compton campuses.

“In Beverly Hills, it would be unusual,” Compton Police Detective John Swanson said of Tuesday’s shooting. “Here, it’s not unusual.”

Alejandro was shot at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, as he was preparing to leave school. Most of the school’s 950 students had left the campus. But Alejandro had taken time to call his mother at home, relatives said, asking her to pick him up.

Friends and relatives said Alejandro often feared being harassed by gang members on the walk to his home on Rose Avenue, about eight blocks away. But another family member had borrowed the car Tuesday, and it was not available.

Police and witnesses said a single shot came from an alley across the street from the school, fired by one of four gang members who had been chased from the campus moments earlier by school police.

The bullet struck Alejandro just below the eye. He died on the school lawn.

Early Wednesday morning, Compton police arrested two boys, 14 and 17 years old, in the shooting. Both were arrested at their homes and booked on murder. They were being held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.

As word of his death spread through the working-class, graffiti-scarred neighborhoods around the school, about 30 angry parents descended on the campus at 9 a.m., demanding that the district take measures to stop violence.

The parents--mostly Spanish-speaking Latinas--were escorted to a classroom, where school officials tried to reassure them their children were safe.

“At this moment, your children are not in danger,” Patricia Ibarra, a community aide, told the parents in Spanish.

Unconvinced, some parents announced they would withhold their sons and daughters from school indefinitely.

“My children didn’t come to school today and I won’t let them come tomorrow,” said Catalina Baltazar, whose son and two daughters are enrolled at Bunche. “The cholos (gang members) wait for them outside after school. I don’t want my children to be killed.”

Even as a group of parents and school administrators stood outside the school office, several young men sped by in a gold-colored sedan, shouting insults and flashing obscene gestures at the incredulous adults.

“You see?” one parent remarked. “There are police cars here and still they are not afraid.”

Some parents called for the removal of armed police officers from the campus. The presence of the officers, they said, could provoke more shootings.

“We don’t want the security guards (the school police) here,” said Maria Acosta, 38. “The gangs will come after them again and more children will die.”

Melanie Lomax, an attorney for the school district, said there was nothing to indicate that the officer at Bunche Middle School acted improperly.

Elisa Vargas, Alejandro’s mother, did not have time for such debates. Escorted by a school counselor, she demanded to see the spot where her son died. She wept loudly as she walked in circles on the grass, by the pole where the flag had been lowered to half-staff in her son’s honor.

“Por que? Por que te fuiste?” she called out. “Why? Why did you leave me?”

School officials said 12 psychologists arrived to help the students cope with the grief of losing a friend, and the fear that they could become victims too.

“A lot of the kids are going to have a hard time dealing with it because the kid who it happened to is a good kid,” said Vera Alexander, a school counselor. If it could happen to a “good kid” such as Alejandro, she said, it could happen to anybody.

Alexander was also deeply shaken by the shooting. She recalled standing at the counter in the school office when the shot rang out. She said she rushed to the front door to tell the children outside to take cover in the office--it was then she saw Alejandro laying awkwardly on his back on the grass.

“I went out there, I saw what had happened and who it was and I couldn’t believe it,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I saw his face, and I just couldn’t believe it.”

Nelly Winkler, a school nurse, said: “It was just a random shooting. You can be at the wrong place at the wrong time. It doesn’t mean it’s God’s will.”

School Trustee John Stewart said the shooting is related to an overall increase in gang activity in the community. Social forces beyond the control of school administrators were to blame for the tragedy, he said.

“It could not be avoided,” Stewart said, pointing out that the assailant was not standing on the campus when he fired the shot. “The school district could have done nothing differently. The school board in the district is doing everything it can do. Anything beyond that is parental responsibility.”

Stewart said crime incidents at Compton schools have dropped off in recent months.

In 1989-90 there were 726 crimes, including one homicide. Naomi Rainey, a school district spokeswoman, said crime dropped off 24% in the first half of the 1990-91 school year.

But those numbers meant little on Rose Avenue, where Alejandro’s playmates and neighbors gathered to remember him.

It was Diane Veney, 39, who described Alejandro as “the sweetest thing this side of heaven,” remembering that he helped her children with household chores such as ironing.

Benjamin Vann, 11, produced a photograph of a trip he took with Alejandro to Venice Beach during Easter vacation. Both boys are smiling in the photograph, each proudly sporting shorts and black roller skates.

Benjamin struggled to find the words to describe his fallen playmate. “He was wonderful. He was my best friend.”