School Shooting Leaves a Mystery : Violence: Shortly after discussing attitude problems with Redlands principal, a student returned and severely wounded him. Police are unsure if the 13-year-old then killed himself or died accidentally.

Ninety minutes after his principal told him that he needed to improve his attitude, 13-year-old John Sirola returned to his grade school, leveled a shotgun and without warning shot the principal in the face.

Whether the eighth-grader then committed suicide or accidentally killed himself as he fled from the parochial school was one of several mysteries that police were wrestling with Tuesday.

The shooting Monday afternoon left Sacred Heart School Principal Richard Facciolo seriously injured and authorities wondering how the boy got the gun and whether he sawed off its barrel so he could better conceal it before the attack, which occurred in front of a secretary and two children, ages 5 and 6.

Facciolo was listed in fair to good condition Tuesday at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he faced reconstructive jaw surgery.

Monday’s shooting reverberated through the quiet town. The boom of the gunfire attracted attention as far as five blocks away in the neighborhood of two-story, Victorian-style homes and white picket fences.

John Sirola’s body was found crumpled in an exterior walkway between the 101-year-old school and the parish church, the shotgun at his feet.

The crime was especially wrenching, given that it occurred on a Catholic school campus in a San Bernardino County community known for its peacefulness.

“We view Catholic schools as islands of peace and security, but this has taught us that there are no havens from the violence of today’s world,” said Father Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The shooting was the first ever in a diocesan school, he said.

As he spoke on the church steps, psychologists and counselors met with faculty, staff and the school’s 301 students. A morning prayer service focused on Facciolo’s recovery and the memory of the dead student. Later, classmates colored get-well cards to “Mr. Fash,” their nickname for the principal. One card depicted a sky filled with hearts with an angel hovering over a schoolhouse.

The Sirola boy left Sacred Heart last fall to live with his father in Arizona and returned here to live with his mother because of the school’s disciplined structure, authorities said. “He was a young man having a real tough time growing up,” Lincoln said of the youngster.

The boy’s first day back in class was last Thursday, and he and Facciolo were working on a “behavioral contract,” officials said. Monday afternoon, he met with Facciolo to discuss his ongoing attitude problem and his unwillingness to abide by the school’s dress code, Police Sgt. Marc Tilson said.

Facciolo told the boy that he was doing “fairly well, but there was room for improvement,” Tilson said.

The youngster walked home and, 90 minutes later, returned with the weapon, Tilson said. He strode into Facciolo’s office and, without uttering a word, shot Facciolo from just a few feet away, crushing his face, neck and shoulder with a single blast.

The boy ran outside; a second shotgun blast echoed through the campus.

Without witnesses, Tilson said, it was unclear if the boy intentionally shot himself, as was initially reported by police, or if he tripped and fell on the rain-slick sidewalk and the weapon accidentally discharged, mortally wounding him in the chest. Forensic investigation might shed light on the circumstances, Tilson said.

Tilson said that it was unclear how the boy got the weapon and that his parents knew nothing about it.

Based on evidence inside the youth’s bedroom, investigators concluded that three to four inches of the gun barrel had been sawed off “very recently,” either that day or a day or two before, Tilson said.

“We have no idea what could make a 13-year-old so angry as to commit this kind of violent act,” Tilson said. But “to take time to saw off the barrel of a gun definitely shows a certain amount of premeditation.”