Former coach recalls 'a bright, smiling kid'

March 27, 2001

EL CAJON -- Charles "Andy" Williams appeared in court for the second time yesterday in the Santana High shootings, this time with his family and a contingent of supporters from his hometown of Brunswick, Md., present.

Former coaches and friends from Brunswick, who felt strongly enough about the 15-year-old boy to come cross-country to back him, sat in the courtroom, watching a scene they said they never imagined possible.

In an interview they described Williams, who is accused of killing two of his former schoolmates and wounding 13 people, as a wholesome, well-adjusted boy.

Full coverage of the Santana High School shooting Public defender Randy Mize tells judge defense is challenging Prop. 21. Cable-DSL / 56k Prosecutor Kristin Anton says facts of case merit Williams' prosecution as adult. Cable-DSL / 56k Public defender Mize says defense is only seeking justice for Williams. Cable-DSL / 56k Chuck Carbaugh, shown with Gary Strakonsky, both youth league coaches of Williams in Maryland, recalls the boy as an active participant in school activities. Cable-DSL / 56k Dr. Carol Lynn, aunt of shooting victim Bryan Zuckor, says trying Williams as a juvenile would not be just. Cable-DSL / 56k The FREE RealPlayer plug-in is necessary to play RealMedia.

"When he left Brunswick one or 11/2 years ago, he was a bright, smiling kid," said Gary Strakonsky, who coached Williams for three years in youth football and has helped form a support group for the boy. "Now he's on TV with all this. It doesn't add up."

Meanwhile, relatives of the victims spoke out to protest the tactics of Williams' defense attorneys and to rally support to keep Williams facing prosecution as an adult and behind bars for the rest of his life.

One of them was an aunt of 14-year-old Bryan Zuckor, shot to death when Williams began his March 5 rampage in a boys' bathroom on the Santee campus.

Carol Lynn Briens read from a statement outside court at a news conference in which she was joined by Zuckor's mother and a large contingent of supporters.

"If the defenders are successful in keeping this case in Juvenile Court, then the victims will be children and families who are left to face violent young people," Briens said.

Strakonsky and Chuck Carbaugh, another youth league coach, said they are opposed to trying Williams as an adult. They said they flew from Maryland at their own initiative and expense to show support for Williams and his father, Jeff, who used to announce the youth league games his son played in Brunswick.

Neither could explain what drove Williams to open fire on his classmates. Carbaugh said Williams played sports, appeared in class plays, was on the honor roll and ran for class president.

"They never got to know 'Andy' out here," Carbaugh said. "They only know this 'Charles Andrew.' "

Strakonsky said a support group of Brunswick residents has formed and sent a petition with 360 signatures, opposing an adult trial, to Randy Mize, Williams' lead attorney.

As Strakonsky and his group watched, Superior Court Judge Herbert J. Exarhos postponed the arraignment for Williams during a brief hearing in which the former Santana student kept his gaze lowered.

Exarhos allowed Williams' attorneys time to file their challenge to the state law requiring that he be tried as an adult.

Briens, reading with a voice thick with emotion, rebuked the defense efforts, and sought to rally public opinion. "For the sake of our children who are left behind and other children, our family upholds the law that Bryan and Randy's murderer be tried as an adult," she said.

"One family cannot stand alone in times like this. We urge other families to stand up for what is right and just for all our children."

Williams is charged with murder, attempted murder and assault with a firearm. Zuckor and another student, 17-year-old Randy Gordon, were killed in the rampage, and 13 people -- including 11 students -- were injured.

No motive for the shooting has been spelled out by authorities. Students have said Williams was picked on and teased, and he told investigators he was angry and disappointed at the school.

If tried as an adult and convicted, he could face a prison sentence of hundreds of years. If the case remains in Juvenile Court, he could be let out at age 25, although prosecutors could seek to keep him in custody longer.

His brief hearing yesterday was part of an extraordinary day at the El Cajon courthouse. About 90 minutes after Williams left, Jason Hoffman Jr. -- an 18-year-old charged with firing shots at Granite Hills High School and injuring five people Thursday -- sat in the same seat Williams occupied and entered pleas of not guilty to attempted-murder charges.

Defense lawyer Mize told Judge Exarhos that Williams would not enter a plea so lawyers can challenge Proposition 21, a sweeping initiative mandating adult trials for some youths charged with murder.

"Proposition 21 has created laws that are frankly unconstitutional," Mize said. "We believe the adult criminal system has no jurisdiction over the matter."

While Mize spoke, Williams' father, grandparents and mother sat in the first row of spectator seats directly behind him. His mother cried quietly as she watched her son -- wearing a bulletproof vest beneath his orange jail suit -- file in.

His father also was shaken and said, "Our sympathies go to the families."

Exarhos set a hearing on the challenge for April 20, and said he would issue a ruling a week later.

After the hearing, defense attorney Jo Pastore said the defense will contend Proposition 21 violates the single-subject rule governing initiatives. The state Constitution says an initiative can cover only a single subject area.

The defense also will contend that ordering adult trials for some juveniles amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, she said.

Williams was a second-string receiver and safety who was the first to sign up each year for football, Strakonsky said. Never a standout player, Williams was still voted the most inspirational player one year by his teammates, he said.