Calif. Shooting Shows Seriousness of 'Jokes'

March 6, 2001 -- The warning signs turned out to be no laughing matter.

In hindsight, friends and acquaintances of the 15-year-old alleged gunman, Charles "Andy" Williams, in the latest school shooting Monday say the warning signs were there.

They say the Santana High School freshman — often mocked as a "dork," "freak" and "nerd" by some of the other kids — talked about planning an attack at school days before Monday's deadly shooting spree. But even with the memory of the Columbine High School shooting, no one took the teenager seriously.

While a few were concerned enough to check him for weapons before class, they didn't check his backpack — where the gun used in the attack was allegedly hidden.

Now, two people are dead, 13 are recuperating from injuries, and Santana High School, near San Diego, has become synonymous with Columbine and Paducah. How did this happen?

"If he [the suspect] had said something to a professional — a teacher or a counselor — things would have probably worked out differently," said Howard Snyder, systems research director for the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pittsburgh, Pa.

"They would have known to contact authorities. But kids say they're going to kill each other, beat each other up all the time … it's hard to distinguish when they're kidding," he said. "If authorities were asked to investigate every threat, they would be investigating a vast majority of kids."

Williams is in custody and is expected to be charged as an adult with murder, weapons and assault charges.

Police say he fired about 30 shots during the bloody spree, reloading his weapons four times along the way. During a search of his home late Monday, police found additional weapons and seized a computer.

”We have established no real motive for the shooting except people indicate that the suspect was mad and we don’t know if he was mad for any particular reason,” said Santee, Calif. police Lt. Jerry Lewis.

The Most Likely Unlikely Suspect

His friends and acquaintances were all surprised by the rampage, even though they say he had talked about planning the shooting over the weekend. Chris Reynolds, an adult who knew the teenager, described him to ABC affiliate KGTV as a "kid who got picked on a lot but then be laughing about it."

Reynolds said he did not take the threats seriously because Williams and the kids he hung out with "liked to joke around a lot." He said he regretted not contacting authorities about the threats.

"I feel like I'm to blame for some of this because I could have done something about this," Reynolds said. "I told him [the shooter], 'I don't want a Columbine here in Santana.' And he said, 'No, nothing's happening. I'm just joking.'"

"Everybody thought he was the type of kid that wouldn't do such a thing, but he's exactly the type of kid who's been doing these things," Reynolds continued.

Alex Ripple, a 14-year-old friend of the suspect, said he and his friends were concerned enough to check him for weapons.

"We didn't search his backpack, only searched his body. We patted him down." They found nothing, Ripple said.

Sounding the Alarm

Over the past few months, potential Columbine-style massacres have been prevented by people who noticed red flags, took them seriously and notified authorities immediately.

In January, a photo lab clerk's tip to San Jose police led to the arrest of 19-year-old Al DeGuzman on weapons and explosives charges for allegedly planning an attack on De Anza College in Cupertino, Calif.

In February, high school students in Fort Collins, Colo. and Hoyt, Kan. prevented similar attacks by telling authorities about their classmates' plans.

"The biggest change is that kids around the country have a better appreciation that they have some responsibility for letting people know when they find out dark things about other kids," said James Garbarino, human development professor at Cornell University.

ABCNEWS' Bill Redeker and ABCNEWS.com's Oliver Libaw and Bryan Robinson contributed to this report.