Security Credited in Averting a Massacre

A day after police killed a gun-wielding teenager holding a student hostage at Hueneme High School, administrators credited tight security and intense planning for preventing a massacre.

Details emerged Thursday on the sometimes heroic efforts of school staff members in sweeping hundreds of students from the path of the assailant, who was eventually killed by a police SWAT team.

Principal Roger Rice recalled clinging to a pay phone calling 911 just 15 yards from Richard Gene “Midget” Lopez III as the youth held a pistol to the head of sobbing student Lorena Gonzalez. Rice was also barking orders to teachers to get the students into classrooms, the gymnasium or cafeteria.

“I yelled, ‘Here! Here! Here!’ And, ‘Get out! Get out! Get out!’ ” Rice said. “I saw kids in the cafeteria standing up looking out the windows and told them to get down. It wasn’t scary as much as intense.”

Staff members corralled the students under the nose of the 17-year-old Lopez, getting them out of danger in less than three minutes, school officials said.

At one point Lopez had turned toward the shouting principal, who promptly shut up.

Meanwhile, Chris Evans, an off-duty Oxnard police officer, had stopped by to see his daughter and immediately helped School Resource Officer Joe Tinoco distract Lopez, giving teachers cover to evacuate students.

“A lot of faculty members put themselves on the line for these kids,” Oxnard schools Supt. William Studt said. “There are some real heroes there.”

On Thursday the school was closed to students as staff members met to discuss the incident. Also, about 15 students showed up to seek counseling. A delegation of school officials visited Gonzalez, the 17-year-old hostage, at her home to see if she needed anything. The school will remain closed today and reopen Tuesday.

School administrators said close cooperation with police, a system of security monitors and the presence of a police officer on campus all combined to prevent a further tragedy.

Absolute security can never be guaranteed but in this case vigilance paid off, they said.

Rice said earlier reports there was no guard at the gate Lopez had entered were inaccurate.

“The gate was not unattended; he [the guard] saw the perpetrator coming up with a gun, heard him fire rounds and went to call in a Code 7--a weapon on campus,” Rice said.

Studt said since the April 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., the school has worked closely with authorities.

Local police had plans of the school, the layout of the buildings and they knew the location of the doors. Teachers were well-versed in the language of lock-down or getting students into a classroom, shutting the doors and draping the windows.

They mastered it so well that long after the shooting, some teachers and students were still huddled behind closed doors, Studt said.

“We have had meetings with the police orchestrating how we would deal with a situation like this,” Studt said. “And it all went down the way it was supposed to. We averted what could have been a serious tragedy.”

Not everyone Thursday shared the glowing assessment of school security. Some students walking past the building said they routinely see nonstudents jumping the fence and walking onto campus.

“I don’t feel safe anymore,” said Natalie Miranda, 16. “You can easily jump the fence. People jump the fence every day at lunchtime.”

Alvaro Fraire, 15, said he often sees nonstudents on campus. Sometimes they even come and sit in classes when there is a substitute teacher who doesn’t know them, he said.

“They visit their friends,” he said. “Nobody says anything.”

Both teenagers said they would like to see more police on campus.

“We never thought it could happen here,” Fraire said. “They should hire some more security.”

Studt and Rice concede the low, chain-link fence can be easily scaled but say they are certain nonstudents don’t get very far before being stopped by security staff members who know who is who. Maybe a nonstudent could get into a classroom, Studt said, but added he or she wouldn’t be there long before getting caught.

“I don’t think there is anything you can do about a fence,” Studt said. “There is a fine line--do you want to turn this place into a prison or a learning environment? You could put up a 30-foot wall but that won’t stop someone determined to get in.”

Area school officials sympathized with Hueneme’s plight, saying security is simply impossible to guarantee.

Buena High School in Ventura doesn’t even have a fence around it, so guards patrol the perimeter on bicycles.

“What would you do to prevent someone from getting over a fence? Put someone every five feet along the fence?” asked Buena High Principal Mike Johnson. “We are 100% vigilant all the time. After a situation like this you sit down and talk. You can never let your guard down; you can get complacent.”

Ventura schools Supt. Joe Spirito said he works “hand and glove” with local police, and said the high schools have lock-down drills.

“We have practices on campus when we bring in the SWAT team so they become familiar with the campus,” Spirito said.

Aside from physical security, some students may now feel traumatized. Jason Wilson, a counselor at Hueneme High, met with students Thursday and said some cried and talked about their fear of returning to class.

“We tried to address their feelings of fear, anger and frustration,” he said. “We tell them it is OK to feel like this. Some students are afraid this could happen again. They are looking for reassurance.”

Richard Deamer, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Ventura, said parents should observe their children’s behavior closely in the coming weeks.

“The problem with people who have gone through something like this is post-traumatic stress. They start dreaming about it, it’s reenacted in their dreams,” Deamer said. “It’s a coping mechanism.”

Deamer said not all children will feel this way but parents should be on guard.

Children should be told their feelings are normal and be asked how they have overcome past trauma and past fears, said Paul Meyers, a consultant with the state Department of Education, who works with school counselors.

“In the adolescent world, nobody dies, so when they see it, their whole belief system is undermined,” he said.

Few expect life to return to normal when Hueneme High reopens next week.

“All of our teachers have a great passion for kids,” Rice said. “I don’t know what to expect on Tuesday but our staff is so caring and compassionate that the kids will be embraced when they return.”

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Times staff writer Margaret Talev contributed to this report.