High School Mourns Ex-Principal Who Was Shot on Freeway

Many students came to Lynwood High School on Thursday expecting just another stifling morning of summer classes. What they found instead was that their school had been transformed into a memorial site for a beloved former principal.

Gary Beverly, 39, who had recently been named the district’s director of student services and special education, was shot to death on the Gardena Freeway in Compton as he drove home in rush-hour traffic Wednesday afternoon.

Compton Police said Thursday that they had no idea why Beverly was killed or by whom. Though Beverly was on a packed freeway where traffic was moving at less than 20 mph, no witnesses to the shooting have come forward, police said.

Among other theories, police are looking at whether the shooting was the result of a road rage incident or misguided gang violence. Some evidence may point to the possibility that Beverly was targeted for assassination, they said.

“We are looking for motives,” said Compton city spokesman Frank Wheaton.

Detectives spent Thursday afternoon interviewing Lynwood students, former students and staff members to find out if anyone could have had a reason to kill the educator, who lived in Carson with his wife and three children. Authorities are also talking with employees at a Xerox office near the freeway who heard the shots.

In Compton, officials have stepped up security for Mayor Omar Bradley and City Council members, Wheaton said. Their move came in reaction to a rumor that Bradley, who also works for the Lynwood Unified School District and is physically similar to Beverly, might have been the intended target, said Wheaton, who declined to discuss the extra protection measures in detail.

Lynwood Schools Supt. Harold Cebrun said he could not think of a single person who disliked Beverly. “In the battle we wage daily against ignorance and violence, Gary Beverly was one of our finest soldiers,” Cebrun said.

At Lynwood High School, where Beverly was principal from 1995 until his promotion in January of this year, hundreds of students congregated in the quad Thursday, crying as they made posters in his memory.

Many teenagers, who just two weeks ago had given Beverly a spontaneous standing ovation at graduation, attached photocopied pictures of him to their clothing.

“I can’t believe someone could do this,” said 15-year-old sophomore Alice Barrazo, wiping away tears and hugging friends.

She said she first got to know the principal because she wound up in his office after a fight with her biology teacher.

“I remember you talking to me and telling me violence was not the answer,” Alice wrote in a letter to Beverly.

But she said she really grew to love Beverly because he came to every single game the girls soccer team played at home. “When I saw him cheering and jumping for our victory, it made me feel good inside,” she said.

Students and parents described Beverly as a unifying force in a city with tension between African Americans and Latinos.

“This guy was the kind of person who would treat you like an equal, regardless of your background, your nationality or your ethnicity,” said Lynwood Mayor Pro Tem Ricardo Sanchez.

Sanchez, who was born in El Salvador, said Beverly, who was black, reached out to Latinos. He noted that during the flooding in Central America two years ago, Beverly organized car washes and food drives to help victims of the disaster.

Administrators plan two memorials for Beverly. A candlelight vigil will be held at 8 p.m. tonight at Hosler Middle School, 11300 Spruce St., and a memorial service will be held 6 p.m. Monday at the high school gymnasium, 4050 Imperial Highway.

Compton police urged anyone with information about the shooting to call them at (310) 605-5600.