On the morning of March 5, 2001, Charles “Andy” Williams took a black revolver that he’d gotten from his father’s locked gun cabinet and calmly and methodically unleashed a barrage of gunfire into the bathroom, hallway and quad of Santana High School.
Two students died and 13 people were wounded in the attack at the suburban San Diego school, which then-President Bush described as “a disgraceful act of cowardice.” Williams, who was 15 at the time of the rampage, pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced in adult court to 50 years to life in prison.
Now, in a matter of months, he may walk free.
On Tuesday, a Superior Court judge granted Williams’ request to recall his sentence under a California law that allows for the resentencing of juvenile cases that were tried in adult court. This means Williams will be transferred to the juvenile court system, where he could become eligible for immediate release from prison.
The San Diego County district attorney’s office strongly opposes the resentencing and has filed an appeal to prevent the hearing from going forward.
“This defendant carried out a calculated, cold-blooded attack during which he executed two young students and shot 11 other students and two school officials, forever traumatizing a community,” said Dist. Atty. Summer Stephan in a statement. “As prosecutors, our duty is to ensure justice for victims and protect public safety, and the defendant’s cruel actions in this case continue to warrant the 50-years-to-life sentence that was imposed.”
Williams, who is now 39 years old, first became eligible for youth offender parole in September 2024, at which time the Parole Board deemed him a threat to public safety and unsuitable for release.
Through the juvenile resentencing process, Williams would be released without any parole supervision or determination that such a move would not pose a risk to public safety, according to the district attorney’s office.
“These same opportunities were not given to the two victims who were executed,” said Stephan. “They won’t be released from the grave and returned to their families.”
At Tuesday’s court hearing, Williams’ attorney Laura Sheppard said she wished Williams could be given the chance to rebuild his life without his release causing more pain to victims of the attack, according to reporting from NBC7.
“I don’t like being part of the cause of their pain,” she said, “but I don’t think two wrongs make a right and I don’t think Mr. Williams needs to spend another year or more in prison, much less potential decades.”
Fourteen-year-old Bryan Zuckor and 17-year-old Randy Gordan were killed in the attack as Williams reloaded his eight-shot gun at least three times and fired more than 30 shots total. Eleven students, a security guard and a special education student teacher also were wounded.
Williams was described by classmates as an unhappy boy who was frequently taunted by peers and had told multiple people that he was preparing to go on a shooting rampage on campus once he entered the ninth grade. In his 2024 parole hearing, the board said it was unclear if Williams understood why he committed the horrific act of violence.
He was tried in 2002 as an adult under Proposition 21, a state initiative approved by voters a year prior to the attack that made it easier for teenagers to be prosecuted as adults. Since then, California law has generally moved away from prosecuting children as adults in many cases and has created new avenues to resentence offenders who were tried in adult court as juveniles.
A legal change in 2011 allowed juvenile offenders serving life without parole to recall their sentence and seek a resentencing in juvenile court, where the longest possible outcome is confinement up to age 25. In 2022, a Court of Appeal decision extended this opportunity to juvenile offenders serving the functional equivalent of life without the possibility of parole.
On March 6, Sheppard filed the petition for a recall of Williams’ sentence and resentencing. In Tuesday’s hearing, she argued that his 50-years-to-life sentence is the functional equivalent of life without the possibility of parole.
The district attorney’s office argued that this was not true, pointing out that Williams is eligible for youth and elder parole under his current sentence.
“At some point our laws must balance the rights of defendants, the rights of victims, and the rights of the community to be safe,” said Stephan. “Many school shooters are young, so what message does our Legislature want to give them to deter them from carrying out horrific shootings?”
The post Shooter who killed 2, injured 13 in notorious SoCal school rampage could now go free appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
