wfn.org | Memorial planned for Presbyterian victim in Southern California

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Note #6419 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

school shooting
8-March-2001
01091

Memorial planned for Presbyterian victim in Southern California school
shooting

Congregation is trying to help its youth deal with a boy's senseless death 

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE -- Bryan Zuckor was described as the quintessential 14-year-old
boy-next-door -- adventurous, athletic and popular at the Southern
California Presbyterian church where he worshipped and vigorously
participated in youth activities.

Zuckor's wholesome life ended on Monday, March 5, when he was shot and
killed by a fellow student at Santana High School in Santee, CA, about 10
miles northeast of San Diego.

Zuckor's church, Lakeside Community Presbyterian in nearby Lakeside, CA, is
planning a memorial service for Sunday, March 11, to remember the teen-ager
and to help its 250 members -- particularly its younger congregants -- come
to terms with the loss of one of their own.

"Our greatest work has been with our own youth group, because this has hit
them very hard," said the Rev. Bob Mentze, the church's pastor, who rushed
to Santana High after learning of the shootings. "The kids all knew Bryan. A
lot of them were involved with him outside of the youth group in the
neighborhood. ... Playing together, that sort of thing."

Mentze said he will speak during the memorial service, along with anyone
else wishing to share his or her thoughts about the deceased. Mentze said
Zuckor had worshiped at the church and was very active in its youth programs
for about four or five years.

"There is a tragedy in this one individual family," the pastor said. "There
is also a tragedy in the youth group. The church has lost a member of its
family."

A second student, 17-year-old Randy Gordon, died in a nearby hospital from
gunshot wounds sustained during the shooting rampage, which occurred at 9:25
a.m. (12:25 p.m. EST) in a social sciences building on the high school
grounds. Thirteen students and two adults were injured. The alleged gunman,
Charles Andrew Williams, a 15-year-old freshman, has been charged as an
adult with two counts of murder and 26 counts of attempted murder and
assault with a firearm. Prosecutors also filed a special charge of "lying in
wait" in connection with the killings of Zuckor and Gordon. If convicted on
all the charges, Williams could be sentenced to 500 years in prison.

The shooting was the deadliest in a U.S. school since an April 1999 incident
at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, in which 15 people, including two
teen-aged gunmen, were killed.

On Wednesday, Mentze met with about 40 young people, ages 11 years to 18,
from Lakeside Community church's junior high and senior high youth programs.
He was joined for the meeting by the congregation’s associate pastor and
about six adults who work with youth groups at Lakeside.

"We let the kids share what they were feeling, share memories of Bryan,"
Mentze said. "That's what they needed to do, just to have an outlet.
Different ones react in different ways. A lot of tears were shed last night,
but there was laughter as well."

Mentze said several other church members who attend Santana High were not
injured, but will have to deal with the horrific memories of the shooting
rampage.

"There were so many different things expressed," the pastor said. "Everybody
seemed to be feeling something a little bit different. There were some
people who expressed guilt that they hadn’t spent more time with Bryan.
There were those who were angry with the shooter and angry about what he
did. There were those who expressed disbelief; they just kept thinking that
the next time the door opened, that it would be Bryan that would walk
through."

Mentze said a memorial service for Gordon, the other boy killed, will be
held on Saturday at the local Southern Baptist congregation where his family
worshiped.

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