Judge finds enough evidence to try teen

May 11, 2001

EL CAJON -- Smiling as he pointed his shotgun, Granite Hills High School senior Jason Hoffman marched onto campus, walked briskly toward the dean of students and announced with an obscenity, "I've got you," the dean testified yesterday.

What followed March 22, according to witnesses at a preliminary hearing yesterday, was pandemonium. Dean Dan Barnes dove through a door in the administration building and yelled "Lock down! Get down!" A shotgun blast shattered the glass window above his head.

Students bolted into classrooms, where they were told to lie on the floor and stay away from windows. In the campus quad, several students and teachers turned to run, only to feel the sting of pellets.

When the shooting stopped, five students and teachers had been injured. Hoffman, meanwhile, lay handcuffed in the street, having been shot in the mouth by a campus police officer.

While lying face down next to several of his teeth, Hoffman, 18, expressed anger at having been shot, according to testimony. And as he was carted away on a gurney, he made eye contact with two of the wounded teachers and blurted out, "Good one, huh?" the teachers testified.

Yesterday's hearing provided a few new details about the shooting spree at the El Cajon school that erupted less than three weeks after another gunman killed two people and wounded 13 at nearby Santana High School.

The prosecution said outside court that Hoffman was firing lead birdshot from his 12-gauge pump shotgun. Police also seized a second weapon -- a loaded, cocked .22-caliber handgun -- from Hoffman's jacket pocket.

After the hearing ended, Superior Court Judge Herbert Exarhos found sufficient evidence to try the El Cajon teen-ager on charges that include one count of attempted murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon. Hoffman faces up to 55 years to life in prison if convicted, Deputy District Attorney Dan Lamborn said.

What remains unclear is Hoffman's motive. Hoffman's attorney wouldn't comment in detail about the defense but argued in court that his client "did not attempt to kill Mr. Barnes or anyone else."

Deputy Public Defender William Trainor suggested that Hoffman didn't directly aim the gun at anybody. Trainor also told the judge that the case is "very complex" and that "the story has yet to unfold." In the past, he has said Hoffman was receiving treatment for clinical depression before the shooting.

In court yesterday, Hoffman kept his head down, took studious notes and avoided eye contact with the witnesses. Among them were three of Hoffman's classmates and two Granite Hills teachers. All suffered pellet wounds after the rapid series of shotgun blasts.

Barnes testified that Hoffman arrived on the campus just as the lunch period was ending. Barnes had met with Hoffman four times in the past to discuss "counseling issues and some discipline," most recently on Feb. 23, a meeting that had been "positive," Barnes testified. No details were revealed.

Barnes said he was standing in the quad area when Hoffman leveled the gun at him, firing just as Barnes dove through the door to the administration building.

In the blasts that followed, Barnes wasn't hit. Of the people who were, the most seriously wounded was Andrew Yafuso, 16, a junior, who said he suffered 40 to 50 wounds to the scalp, face and upper body.

Another victim, Toby Halstead, 15, said he still has dozens of pellets in his leg. He said he was in the quad area when he saw a smiling Hoffman shoot toward Barnes.

"Personally, I thought Mr. Barnes was gone," Halstead testified.

Halstead said he was shot as he ran around a corner. Shaunda Hughes, 17, a junior, testified that she suffered two pellet wounds while attempting to flee.

Teachers Fran Zumwalt and Priscilla Murphy were also in the quad when they heard what they thought were firecrackers. Then Murphy felt a stinging sensation.

"Fran and I exchanged words like, 'This is real,' " Murphy testified. "And then we ran."

As the students and teachers scattered, El Cajon police Officer Richard Agundez Jr., who was assigned to the school, was in a conference room celebrating a colleague's birthday.

He said he heard the shots, rushed to the hall and saw Hoffman standing in the quad area, attempting to reload the gun.

"What was going through your mind at that time?" the prosecutor asked Agundez.

"Stop the threat," Agundez said.

Agundez said he opened fire with his .40-caliber semiautomatic, and Hoffman fled. Agundez continued to shoot as Hoffman ran to the street. Hoffman eventually tossed his rifle into the air, and then dropped to the ground, wounded. Agundez handcuffed him as another officer provided backup.

"It appeared he was angry at me for shooting him," Agundez testified.