Mother’s Slaying Baffles Neighbors

A 14-year-old Yorba Linda youth accused of shooting and killing his mother after a heated argument was described by neighbors, police and friends Friday as a stable and athletic teenager who played on his high school’s football team and was close to both his mother and father.

Investigators said they believe the Thursday afternoon slaying of 42-year-old Cindy Connolly in this quiet, tree-lined neighborhood came after her son simply lost control of his temper, picked up a gun and fired several shots into her back.

“The kid does not have a record. He does not appear to be a problem child,” said Sgt. Tom Flenniken.

“In my 27 years of law enforcement, nothing surprises me. Sometimes people lose it. His mother was on him and he couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t want to take it anymore.”

But on the cloistered 5600 block of Shady Glen Place, neighbors were still in shock Friday, describing the teen as “well-balanced” and “good-natured.”

“It had to have been an accident,” said Barbara Long, a next door neighbor who grew close to the Connolly family during their seven years on the street together.

“They always did things together . . . Camping, sports, barbecues,” she said. “Cindy helped prepare food for [her son’s] football team. My sons went camping with them a few times.”

Added Brady Shank, who lives down the street from the Connolly family: “This is one of the safest neighborhoods around. You always think things like this will never happen to you. But, some way or another, it happens.”

Authorities said the Esperanza High School freshman called police after the 3:42 p.m. shooting. He later confessed to firing a .22-caliber handgun at his mother, authorities said. Neither the boy’s father, Phillip Connolly, a fire captain with the Orange County Fire Authority, nor his 10-year-old sister were home at the time of the shooting. But both returned a short time later to find Cindy Connolly dead and the youth a suspect in her slaying.

Connolly died of her wounds at the home a short time after she was shot, Flenniken said. The youth, who was arrested on suspicion of murder, is being held at Orange County Juvenile Hall. Charges against him may be filed as soon as Monday and he could be charged as an adult, depending on the outcome of a review by the Orange County district attorney’s office, Carl Biggs, senior deputy district attorney, said.

Police say they found weapons ranging from rifles to handguns easily accessible in the home. The family appeared to be avid hunters or target shooters, authorities said. The 14-year-old led police to the handgun believed used in the slaying, which was in a field adjacent to the home, Flenniken said.

Yorba Linda, a city of 57,000, had no homicides last year, according to police. There were two homicides in 1994.

“This is the kind of community where everybody knows each other,” said Yorba Linda Mayor John M. Gullixson, whose sons played baseball and basketball with the young murder suspect.

“They were a very nice family. I recognize that when people go home and the doors are closed, every family has their problems. It is very hard raising teenagers nowadays.”

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Police would not elaborate on the argument between the boy and his mother, but Shank, who apparently arrived home shortly after the shooting, said he saw the boy sobbing loudly and uncontrollably as he talked on a portable phone outside the home.

Within minutes, police arrived, Shank said. “They patted him down, then he sat and talked to them.

“I feel sorry for [the boy],” Shank said. “I just don’t see him pulling a gun on his own mother.”

Long, the next-door neighbor, said she was concerned for the youth’s father and younger sister.

Long said the elder Connolly set up a basketball hoop at one end of the street that all the kids in the neighborhood used. When it was free, Connolly and his son were often seen matching their skills under the hoop.

“They all seemed to get along so well,” she said. “Everyone in the neighborhood got along. We’d sometimes order Chinese food and sit outside to talk during the night.”

Just two days ago, Long recalled, Cindy Connolly baked her an elaborate cake after Long’s father died of brain cancer.

“It was quite a display,” she said. “And, two days later, she’s dead.”