School Shooting Suspect’s Family Apologizes for Bloodshed

The father of Charles Andrew Williams said Friday that he is still looking for answers to explain the March 5 campus shooting that traumatized the town of Santee.

Known to family and friends as Andy, the 15-year-old boy is accused of killing Randy Gordon, 17, and Bryan Zuckor, 14, and wounding 13 other students and staff members at Santana High School in a shooting that focused international attention on the San Diego suburb.

In a news conference Friday, the father, Charles Jeffrey Williams, was joined by grandparents, aunts and uncles of the young defendant.

The elder Williams, 41, broke down while reading a statement in which he expressed concern for his son and offered a tearful apology to the victims.

“I am scared for my son,” he said. “I will do whatever is necessary to continue to support my son and to find the answers we all desperately need.”

Cindy Weber, Williams’ sister, said the family was not offering excuses for her nephew.

“We hope from this catastrophe our society can find greater understanding and can discover the root problems that drive our children to desperate acts,” she said. “From that understanding, it is our desire that our nation can stop this from ever happening again.”

Weber singled out the families of Gordon and Zuckor for special apologies and praised law enforcement officials for their rapid response to the shooting.

“There is no way anyone can ever repay the loss they have suffered. We are grateful that law enforcement and emergency personnel responded so quickly, preventing further harm,” she said.

Andy Williams’ public defenders said they will continue with a legal challenge to Proposition 21, the measure that allows prosecutors to try the boy as an adult.

Jo Pastore said that giving prosecutors, as opposed to judges, the authority to order Williams’ trial in adult court amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Randy Mize, the suspect’s lead attorney, said justice would be better served if the defendant were tried in Juvenile Court.

If that happened, he could be incarcerated at the California Youth Authority until he is 25, when he could be released. If tried and convicted as an adult, he is, in effect, looking at a life sentence.

Mize said he does not know what motivated his client to commit the shootings. But he said the defense expects to call experts to explain his behavior.