Mourning a Life Cut Short

When La Quinta High School Principal Jim Monahan got on the public address system to make a special announcement Monday morning, the empty seat in world history class was hardly noticeable.

But as the words “grave regret” followed by “one of our students was tragically killed” sounded throughout the school, the space within that empty seat filled the entire school with grief.

The 16-year-old sophomore football player who usually occupies the chair, Eric Sandoval, had been gunned down over the weekend as he was making a phone call at a strip mall near his Westminster home, police said.

“This is a tragic loss for all of us,” Monahan said. “I’ve got about 150 kids here today who are severely affected by this.

“They’ve decorated his locker. Some came out to the quad area to talk together. Others made signs in memory of Eric. . . . The kids are all dealing with it in their own way.”

About 12:30 a.m Saturday, Sandoval and a friend were at a phone booth near Ward Street and Bolsa Avenue when several people in a car began yelling at them, asking where they were from, police and family members said.

The two teenagers ran, and at least one of the car’s occupants opened fire, striking Sandoval once in the leg, said his uncle, Alex Villa.

“He fell down, and they came back around and shot him in the head,” Villa said, fighting back tears.

Gang unit detectives are searching for the killers.

About an hour earlier, Sandoval had been in his front yard when his father, Antonio Sandoval, 40, told him “it was getting late and he needed to go inside,” Villa said. Later, when police knocked on Antonio Sandoval’s door, he was sure that his son was asleep inside.

“The officer told him that his son had been killed,” Villa said. “And he said, ‘No, my son is sleeping in his bedroom.’ ”

But when he went to look, the teenager was gone. He apparently had climbed out of his bedroom window to meet a friend, Villa said.

On Sunday night, scores of Sandoval’s high school friends attended a candlelight vigil for him. Students also organized a car wash and donated the money to the family for funeral expenses, relatives said.

“He was so friendly,” Villa said. “He had a lot of friends.”

Sandoval was born in Orange County and “pretty much grew up” in the home he shared with his parents and a 14-year-old sister, whom he adored, Villa said. On Monday, friends and relatives including Sandoval’s grandparents and several uncles and aunts gathered to comfort the family.

Sandoval’s mother, Carmen Sandoval, 35, was clutching the T-shirt he had worn on the night he was slain.

“She won’t let go,” said Liane Wulf, a 16-year-old friend of the family who met Sandoval in the fifth grade.

Wulf and dozens of La Quinta students had gathered at the corner where Sandoval was killed to share tears, hugs and occasional stories about how he used to make them laugh.

Sandoval loved to flirt with the girls, dance and write poems that didn’t rhyme, students said. He loved to joke in class, and most of all, he loved football.

The tight end played on the freshman team last year but was prohibited from playing the first nine weeks of this year because his grade-point average fell below a 2.0, school officials said.

“He’s a good athlete,” Monahan said. “He was working toward improving his grades so that he could play and he was making good progress.”

Although he couldn’t play on the team, Sandoval would still attend practices and provide moral support for the rest of the players, teammates said.

“He was there every day,” said Jerome Auau, 17, who plays on the team. “That says it all.”

Paul Baghjajian, one of Sandoval’s best friends, said he last spoke to the teenager on Friday night. The friends were planning a beach excursion.

“I don’t understand this,” Baghjajian said. “He wasn’t in a gang or anything. He doesn’t even look like a gang member. . . . How could this have happened?”

Memorial services will be at noon Wednesday at the Westminster Memorial Park & Mortuary, 14801 Beach Blvd. in Westminster.

A memorial fund also has been established by La Quinta High School’s football booster club. Donations may be sent to the Eric Sandoval Memorial Fund, c/o Union Bank, 15377 Brookhurst St., Westminster, CA 92683. Organizers are asking anyone with questions about the memorial fund to call (714) 531-4773.

Westminster police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call (714) 741-5704.