Day-Care Deaths Remembered 1 Year Later

Aaron and Pam Wiener moved to Costa Mesa three years ago, trying to escape the terror they experienced while living in the San Fernando Valley.

First, Pam had been robbed at gunpoint in January 1997 as she was leaving a friend’s Van Nuys home. The gunman took about $150 from her, but more importantly, she said, he stole her sense of security.

A month later, gunfire erupted in front of a North Hollywood bank, three blocks away from the preschool that Brandon, one of her three children, attended. As the two gunmen went on a now-infamous rampage, police escorted Brandon and his playmates from the preschool. Both robbers were killed, and 12 officers and eight civilians were injured.

The couple decided to move--only to find that random violence has no boundaries.

Brandon, 3, and Sierra Soto, a 4-year-old girl, were killed on May 3, 1999, when a motorist rammed through a chain-link fence and onto a day-care center playground in Costa Mesa. Several other children were injured.

The driver, who is awaiting trial on murder charges, reportedly told police he wanted to execute “innocent” children.

On Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of her son’s death, Pam Wiener stood over Brandon’s grave at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in Burbank and pondered all of that.

“We thought we would be in a much safer place by moving to Orange County,” Wiener said as she placed flowers at the foot of Brandon’s headstone. “Violence is all around us, and unfortunately there are some things we aren’t in control of. It’s a real scary feeling.”

Wiener said Shaya, Brandon’s younger sister, who accompanied her to the cemetery, hasn’t forgotten him either. Each time they visit his grave, Wiener said, Shaya claims she talks with her older brother. She says Brandon gives her hugs and kisses and he’s wearing a white dress.

“She sees him as an angel,” Wiener said. “Brandon says to her, ‘I don’t have an owie on my head anymore.’ I don’t know where she could come up with that, but I totally believe he’s talking with her.”

Wiener, who was born and raised in North Hollywood, said she and her husband decided to relocate because she felt the Valley wasn’t as safe as she remembered from her childhood. Her mother, still a Valley resident, used to leave her front door open, she said.

They considered moving to Arizona but decided on Costa Mesa--the modestly affordable neighbor to ritzy Newport Beach. Brandon and Shaya were enrolled at the Southcoast Early Childhood Learning Center. Brandon had been at the preschool for more than a year before he was killed.

On that day, Wiener said, she was at the school talking with teachers shortly after 5 p.m. when she heard a loud crash. Teachers ran outside and found an aging, copper-colored Cadillac had smashed into a tree. The driver was still in the car, staring blankly.

Some children were running from the playground; others, including Brandon and Sierra, lay seriously injured and partially trapped beneath the car.

Neighbors worked to lift the car and free the children.

Wiener said she caught a glimpse of her son before she was led screaming to a car and taken to the hospital, where Brandon died a short time later.

“Every day since has seemed like a bad one,” she said. “There isn’t a minute that goes by when I’m not thinking about him.”

Wiener and Cindy Soto, Sierra’s mother, are working together as advocates for safety improvements at day-care centers. Both families have sued the preschool, contending the owner was negligent.