"Mind of a Rampage Killer"
The PBS science television show NOVA aired a special program last week featuring Andy Williams, the attacker in the Santana High School shooting. Titled "Mind of a Rampage Killer," the show speaks mostly with Andy's father Jeffrey Williams, and includes parts of an interview with Andy Williams recently aired by PBS News Hour.
Jeffrey Williams said Andy wasn't a kid that was infatuated with violence, and showed remorse for how his son got the weapon with which he injured 13 students and killed two. Andy is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50 years.
"I feel bad that he used my gun. It was one of the guns I taught him how to shoot with," said Jeffrey Williams.
The program explores why Andy had sunk into a state of deep despair and had become suicidal.
"The first time I told him I loved him, that I can remember, was the first time I saw him at Juvenile Hall [after the shooting]," said Jeff Williams.
About 60 percent of rampage killers end up killing themselves in their rampage, according to NOVA. They explore why Andy Williams was not of that majority.
"I just thought I was going to make a lot of noise and the cops were going to show up," Andy Williams told NOVA.
"Understanding and spotting the suicidal mind is a key piece of the puzzle," according to the NOVA program that is part of a PBS special collection of programs called "After Newtown."
The New American
A recently published article in The New American, written by a California high school teacher, looks at why schools are targeted in mass shootings. To bolster the argument for armed guards at schools, he refers to the Santana shooting and subsequent posting of armed officers at every school in the Grossmont Union High School District, which prevented further tragedy when a student at Granite Hills High was disarmed by a school resource officer.
The article evaluates the responses that schools have developed in the wake of shootings, and questions whether students should remain in locked rooms or stay mobile during a shooting.
The writer argues that the problem with gun control is it "deals with the 'how' of the attack, not the 'why.' " He writes that criminals ignore other laws and gun regulations, and cites a list of the laws Adam Lanza broke before he began the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
From The New American article:
In 2001, at Santana High School in Santee, California, 15-year-old Charles Williams, armed with a revolver, killed two students and injured several others before being subdued by police. The incident shocked the community and persuaded the Grossmont district to take quick action in posting an armed officer at every school. Time would quickly reveal that officers were provided none too soon. A mere three weeks later, another shooting occurred at nearby Granite Hills High, but this time the shooter, senior Jason Hoffman, faced an armed security response from school resource officer Rich Agundez, who quickly dispatched the assailant by wounding him and disabling his shotgun with his own weapon.
Read more:
- Santana Shooter Tells PBS: ‘I Couldn't Comprehend the Consequences’
- In Memoriam: Santana Shooting 11th Anniversary
- Split in Santee: Neighbors on Bundy Drive Debate Gun Control Efforts
