‘He Was an Incredibly Sweet Guy’

Caution was as much a part of Brian Zuckor’s life as bikes and skateboards and silly antics with friends.

The 14-year-old loved performing stunts on his bike, but he wore a helmet.

He loved being with friends, but for five years he did not attend public school; his parents chose instead to teach him at home--and keep him safe.

But a year ago, persuaded by her son’s pleas, Michelle Zuckor enrolled Brian in Santana High School. The Zuckors gave the boy a cell phone. A safety precaution.

On Monday, as word of a shooting spread through Santee, Michelle Zuckor called his cell phone. There was no answer. Zuckor was one of two students killed Monday, when a 15-year old allegedly opened fire at Santana High. Thirteen others were injured.

“I don’t know what to say,” Michelle Zuckor said Tuesday. “I loved him so much. I know he loved me so much.”

She stood in her garage surrounded by the possessions of a 14-year-old life: remote-controlled cars, a bicycle half deconstructed.

Being at Santana was a victory of sorts for Brian Zuckor. He loved being at the school, said his friend Brian Tuttle, 14.

“Mostly he wanted to be with his friends,” Tuttle said. “He had to beg his mom to let him go to Santana.”

Brian was known and remembered for his passions.

“Brian could do some crazy things on his bike,” Tuttle said.

By Tuesday afternoon, Zuckor’s friends had memorialized him on an Internet site. The site includes photos of Zuckor in stunt mode--helmeted and crashing headfirst onto a patch of grass.

Another is a close-up shot of the dark-haired boy.

“He was 14 when he died and was one month away from turning 15,” the text on the Web site reads. “He was looking forward to getting his permit and being a stuntman.”

Angela Scully, 15, knew Brian for about three years.

“He was a really athletic guy. But he was kind of clumsy too. He had huge feet,” Scully said. “I think he was an incredibly sweet guy.”

He found his identity as a cutup of sorts. He’d fall down and pretend to be hurt in a bicycle wreck, hoping to amuse his friends.

“The Matrix” was one of Brian’s favorite movies, said Daniel Church, 13. He got a charge out of the character Neo, who could dodge bullets.

“Brian would try to bend like Neo and we would throw rocks at him and he would, like, bend way, way back and try and dodge them,” said Church, who lives across the street from the Zuckors. “He’d dodge them pretty good unless you throw at his chest.”

But Brian was also a responsible kid.

“He had an extraordinarily close relationship with his mother,” said Robert Mentze, pastor of the Lakeside Community Presbyterian Church, where Brian was a member of a youth group. “He saw himself as the one who would have to take care of his younger brother and sister and his mom.”

Like Randy Gordon, the other youth fatally shot Monday, Zuckor had had an interest in track, Tuttle said.

Zuckor and Tuttle had begun testing their skill at pole-vaulting. Next week, the boys had planned to try and clear an important personal barrier.

“Brian and I were going to put up a rope at 8 feet and see if we could make it over,” said Tuttle. “I know if he didn’t make it, he’d just keep trying and trying.

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Times staff writers Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Tony Perry and Michael Krikorian contributed to this story.