Community Responds With Disbelief and Shock to Shootings of 3 Boys

They were anointed people with unbreakable futures, comfortably tucked away in a gated mansion on eight acres in a valley of millionaires.

At least that’s how many people saw Xavier and Cora Caro. He was a respected doctor and she the busy stay-at-home mom. They were impeccably dressed, devoted to church and, it appeared, to one another and their smart, happy, well-groomed children.

“Total disbelief and shock” is how Leslie Randall described her feelings Tuesday, after learning her son’s classmate and friend Joseph “Joey” Caro, 11, and his brothers Michael, 8, and Christopher, 5, had been shot to death Monday night. And that police suspected the boys’ mother, who was lying in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound to the head after an apparent suicide attempt.

“It’s almost impossible to believe, because of what they showed outwardly,” Randall said. “She’s a wonderful lady, always involved in the school. It wasn’t like there was anything out of the ordinary.”

Another mom, Mary Vege, said Xavier Caro was just as close to his children. He volunteered at school activities, despite the rigors of his medical practice. The Caros often attended school events together, she recalled.

But if nobody knows what goes on in someone else’s house, that is especially true in this neighborhood of luxury homes, set hundreds of yards apart among the hills separating Moorpark and Camarillo. Neighbors are often strangers to one another.

“They have their pools, their spa, things in the backyard, so the only time you see your neighbor is when you’re picking up mail or coming home from work,” said Ron Puckett, a retired police officer who lives in the neighborhood.

None of the dozens of neighbors or friends interviewed knew of the domestic squabbles investigators were looking into, or what--if police were right in their early suspicions--could have pushed the 42-year-old mother to strike out at her own children.

“This is a big deal for everyone,” said Santa Rosa School Principal Craig Helmstedter, who spent the day alongside counselors trying to calm the school’s 300 students and their parents and teachers, grieving for the loss of three popular classmates. “This is our quiet Santa Rosa Valley and it doesn’t feel that way right now.

“The main thing students were asking were mostly things I couldn’t answer for them: Who, what, how.”

The Caros’ youngest child, an infant boy who apparently was unharmed, was in the custody of maternal grandparents Tuesday, investigators said.

Xavier Caro spent the day at his home, talking with investigators and surrounded by colleagues who came together to offer support.

Xavier Caro’s professional life is well documented. A staff physician at Northridge Hospital Medical Center for 20 years, Caro, 52, is a rheumatologist, an expert on fibromyalgia, a syndrome associated with arthritis that causes fatigue and muscle pain. He has been published more than a dozen times in medical journals and has served on a number of regional and national medical panels and boards, according to his resume.

A medical school graduate of UC San Francisco, he also earned an undergraduate degree in Slavic languages and literature from USC, and continues to follow the Trojans football team. In a letter to The Times last year, Caro said he had followed the team for 30 years and discussed the team’s fortunes with his wife.

The only recorded blot on Caro’s professional record appears to be a minor citation issued last month for allegedly allowing an unlicensed physical therapist to practice without the direct supervision of a licensed physical therapist.

“This is an inconceivable tragedy,” Dr. Bevra Hahn, chief of rheumatology at UCLA Medical School, said of the shootings. Hahn said Caro is known and respected in the community of rheumatologists, of which there are only about 3,800 in the nation.

The same sense of loss gripped Caro’s colleagues in Northridge.

“This is a terrible tragedy that affects all who know this family,” said Dr. Paul Buzad, president of the medical staff at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. “The physicians and staff at Northridge Hospital are all saddened by such a terrible loss. Dr. Caro is a respected physician with over 20 years’ service at this hospital, and it is especially at this time that our hearts and prayers are with him and his family.”

Less is known about Socorro Caro, who goes by the name Cora. Neighbor Ralph DeVane said Cora Caro once worked as an office manager at her husband’s medical practice. DeVane said her parents often stayed at the couple’s home.

“They pretty much kept to themselves,” DeVane said. “The doctor always maintained a very professional decorum. Cora Caro was always very cordial and a nice lady.”

Other mothers at Santa Rosa School said Cora Caro was a frequent volunteer at the school, with a steady and happy demeanor.

The Caros purchased their home in 1993. They joined Padre Serra Church in Camarillo, where their sons studied religion. Father Jarlath Dolan said there were no signs Cora Caro was depressed or under stress.

“Nobody observed anything,” he said. “That’s why it was such a shock.”

Dolan said in the absence of a good explanation, the best he could do was offer his parishioners hope for a better life, even for those who appeared to have the best.

Times staff writers Tina Dirmann, Caitlin Liu, Daryl Kelley and Tracy Wilson and Times Community News reporter Holly J. Wolcott contributed to this story.