Teacher in Murder-Suicide Had Prior Gun Conviction

The first-grade teacher who fatally shot his estranged 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 of the prior incident revealed that it was an accident.

District officials said they were particularly influenced by the comments of the earlier case’s prosecutor and probation officer, 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. “We came to the same conclusion: There was no horseplay, no drugs involved. Therefore, he would pose no harm to staff or students. We made the decision that we should give the person an opportunity.”

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, the apparent victims of a murder-suicide. Police said Friday they had no doubt that this time Rojero had deliberately turned his handgun on his 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 first 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, 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, and LAUSD officials believed Rojero’s conviction did not point to a pattern of criminal behavior.

Rojero had killed the brother of a friend at a target range in the 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.

He 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 Canoga Park Elementary and Melvin Avenue Elementary in Reseda.

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

About two months after Rojero went to work as a teacher’s aide, he applied to become a teaching intern, and his application was promptly approved. He started working at Valerio Street in July 1995, where he earned a reputation as an energetic and creative bilingual teacher who was willing to help colleagues with disruptive students.

Although he was on summer break in recent weeks, many other teachers requested him as a substitute at the year-round campus.

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, and there was no record of Acevedo seeking a restraining order against Rojero.

Even Evans, the prosecutor who handled Rojero’s original case, was at a loss to explain the violence Rojero unleashed on Acevedo shortly after midnight Thursday.

“There was nothing in the prior incident to suggest a propensity to commit the crime this defendant committed here,” said Evans. “There was never anything to suggest instability or malice on his part.”

Los Angeles police offered their 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.

“Unfortunately, it’s not an accident,” said Det. Frank Bishop, the officer in charge of the homicide unit at the LAPD’s Foothill Division. “It’s a domestic dispute between a boyfriend and a girlfriend. . . . That’s what all the indicators point to now.”

At Valerio Street Elementary, teachers and students weren’t interested in the details of Rojero’s and Acevedo’s private lives. Teachers spent Friday trying to cope with their grief and somehow explain to their young students what had happened.

Psychologists and nurses arrived at the campus to hold group counseling sessions. Principal Anais Ruiz said she hadn’t even begun to think about who would replace Acevedo as one of the after-school playground monitors.

Regardless of the violent incident, she said, Rojero will be remembered for his fine work on campus.

“As a teacher, he was very professional in carrying out his studies with his children,” Ruiz said. “He was very well thought of by staff, students and community.”

She paused a moment to collect her thoughts.

“They are both greatly missed.”