Parole was denied Tuesday for the shooter at Santana High School who as a teen in 2001 killed two students and wounded more than a dozen others.
Charles Andrew Williams, now 38, was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison for the March 5, 2001 shooting in Santee, but due to a change in state law, he received his first opportunity at parole during a hearing Tuesday before the state parole board.
The lengthy hearing included statements from nearly two dozen victims and family members of the shooting’s victims.
“We do find you pose a risk to public safety, and we do not find you suitable for parole,” said Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner Kevin Chappell at the hearing’s conclusion.
Williams’ next parole hearing will be in three years, unless he successfully petitions for an earlier hearing.
He was 15 when he shot and killed Bryan Zuckor, 14, and Randy Gordon, 17, while wounding 11 other students and two school staff members.
Since his incarceration, a new state law has altered how juveniles tried as adults come up for parole. The Youthful Parole law means juveniles who receive life sentences are entitled to parole hearings no later than 25 years into their sentences.
In a statement released through his attorney, Laura Sheppard, Williams apologized, calling the shooting “violent and inexcusable.” Speaking directly to his victims, he said that he wishes “so badly that I could undo all the hurt and terror I put you through. With the deepest remorse, I am forever sorry.”
He added that It is his “intention to live a life of service and amends, to honor those I killed and those I harmed, and to put proof behind my words of remorse.”
But San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan, who praised the parole board’s decision in a statement after the hearing, said that “neither the 13 wounded victims nor the families of the two murdered students can regain what the defendant took from them.”
– City News Service
