Teacher Who Shot Woman Had Criminal Record

The first-grade teacher who fatally shot his former fiancee before killing himself this week had been convicted in a gun-related death six years ago, but Los Angeles Unified School District officials said Friday they hired him anyway after an investigation revealed that it was an accident.

District officials said they were particularly influenced by the comments of the prosecutor and probation officer who worked on the earlier case, both of whom were convinced that the 1991 fatal shooting was an isolated incident and that Juan Carlos Rojero was not prone to violence.

“The D.A. gave us the assurance that this was truly an accident and that the young man was remorseful,” said Walt Greene, who oversees background checks on prospective hires for the district.

On Thursday, the bodies of Rojero, 29, and his 24-year-old colleague and former girlfriend, Veronica Acevedo, were found near a street corner in Sylmar after an apparent murder-suicide.

Police said Friday they had no doubt that this time Rojero had deliberately turned his handgun on the victim, who co-workers said had recently broken off their engagement.

They had been a popular pair at Valerio Street Elementary School, where the vivacious Acevedo was a drill team instructor and playground monitor and the pony-tailed Rojero had just completed his final year as a teaching intern. He was to begin working as a credentialed teacher in September, more than two years after he came to the school district, disclosing his criminal history on his job application.

Once satisfied that Rojero posed no threat, school district officials hired him as a teacher’s assistant in March 1995, just six days after a Superior Court judge in Lancaster dismissed a 1993 misdemeanor conviction for negligently discharging a firearm.

The action effectively erased Rojero’s criminal record, and cleared the way for the school district to hire him.

Rojero had applied to the school district in February 1995, but officials placed his application on hold until his criminal case was resolved.

In general, the school district follows a strict policy against employing anyone convicted of a violent crime, but applicants’ backgrounds are nonetheless considered on a case-by-case basis.

Rojero had killed the brother of a friend at a target range in Angeles National Forest in December 1991, when his semiautomatic rifle fired as he unloaded a magazine clip, according to court records and Deputy Dist. Atty. David Evans.

Rojero was initially charged with one felony count of involuntary manslaughter but was allowed to plead no contest to the lesser misdemeanor charge, court records show, and was convicted in November 1993.

Soon after, he was sentenced to three years’ probation and required to perform 240 hours of community service--a task he fulfilled by speaking about firearm safety at two elementary schools.

The misdemeanor conviction was dismissed on March 16, 1995, after Rojero completed his community service.

Associates at the school and others from Rojero’s past were baffled by his fatal outburst this week as they mourned the loss of two promising young educators. There had been no hint of discord between the two, who occasionally picnicked on the school’s front lawn during lunch.

Los Angeles police offered their own explanation: Rojero simply did not want to lose Acevedo.

The pair had become engaged in recent months, and Acevedo had been wearing a ring. But she called off the engagement in the last month, angering Rojero, according to police and friends.