| smf: This is too tragic and too real and too recent a calamity to play “What did who know …and when did they know it?” with. Shakespeare in his prologue and closing speech of R+J describes the inevitability (and fatality) of fate. And again – the role of the District Attorney’s office in failing to press charges and issue warnings is critical – reminiscent of the Steven Rooney affair. It wasn’t the South Gate PD who gave Abraham Lopez a get out of jail free card. It wasn’t the courts or a liberal judge or a soft-hearted jury. It was the DA – and no one was well served. |
There is a teachable moment here – and if we fail to learn the lesson and add it to the curriculum we fail utterly and completely. Deasy blasts police for not warning of student's potential threat
L.A. Unified superintendent says school officials were never notified by law enforcement about the danger posed by a student accused of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend at a South Gate high school.
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/pZhYE8
Students visit a memorial at South East High School in South Gate for 17-year-old Cindi Santana, a fellow student who was fatally stabbed at the school Friday. (Christina House, For the Times)
October 3, 2011, 11:02 p.m.- L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy criticized police for never notifying school officials about potential danger from a student accused of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend Friday at a South Gate high school.
Abraham Lopez, 18, was charged Monday with 10 criminal counts, including fatally stabbing 17-year-old Cindi Santana, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.
Lopez, a South Gate resident, also faces counts for bringing weapons onto school grounds and assault charges for fighting and stabbing a student, a dean and a school police officer who rushed to Santana's aid. Their wounds are not life-threatening.
The lunchtime attack at South East High School came just days after Lopez's Sept. 25 arrest for allegedly making threats against the girl and her family. He was initially jailed in lieu of $50,000 bond, but was released Sept. 27 after prosecutors declined to file charges.
"It was important information that was not shared with us," Deasy said of the allegations of threats and Lopez's arrest and subsequent release.
Lopez sneaked onto campus the day of the attack, Deasy said, but his presence would not normally raise concerns. The senior did not have a record of causing trouble.
Deasy said the school was warned by Santana's mother, who met with Principal Maria Sotomayor the Monday before the attack. The parent alerted the principal that Lopez had been arrested on suspicion of making threats, Deasy said.
Deasy said law enforcement agencies should routinely update school officials on known dangers involving students so administrators can fully assess a threat. Deasy, who joined the school system a year ago, could not immediately provide information on current procedures and whether they were followed. But he has ordered a review.
The sprawling L.A. Unified School District stretches over several law enforcement jurisdictions.
The South Gate Police Department handled Lopez's initial arrest. On Monday, that department referred all inquiries to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is handling the homicide investigation. The sheriff's department had no response to Deasy's criticism.
In a report evaluating the original arrest on suspicion of making criminal threats, district attorney's investigators noted that Lopez "sends text messages to ex-girlfriend that imply that [Lopez] will send friends to beat up ex-girlfriend's sister's husband. But threats are not specific, do not show an immediacy, and victim waited 18 hours to report to police."
Investigators concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Lopez. But they also noted ongoing concerns, including a threat to "distribute photos" of Santana of an "intimate nature." The evaluation recommends a follow-up probe.
The issue of notification is not new to L.A. Unified. The school system came under intense criticism in recent years when school staff did not immediately report potential sexual misconduct by school employees against students to police.
One such case involved then-South East Principal Jesus Angulo and Sotomayor, then an assistant principal. Both pleaded guilty to failing to report child abuse. Both were initially suspended, then later returned to work.
Angulo was later promoted to a position supervising principals, while Sotomayor subsequently became principal at South East.
If convicted, Lopez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. Prosecutors recommended his bail be set at $1.28 million.
School reportedly not told of threat to student killed on campus
-- Howard Blume – LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/oBn9BF
October 3, 2011 | 6:15 pm - L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy said Monday that administrators were never notified about potential danger from a student accused of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend Friday at South East High in South Gate.
Abraham Lopez, 18, had been arrested Sept. 25 on suspicion of making threats against Cindi Santana, 17, and her family but was released Sept. 27. Three days later, authorities say, Lopez attacked Santana during lunchtime at the high school.
Deasy made his comments to KCBS-TV Channel 2 reporter Dave Lopez. Deasy added that the alleged attacker was not checked into school Friday and apparently sneaked onto campus. No one at the school had been alerted to the earlier arrest, Deasy said, so administrators couldn't have known that Abraham Lopez represented a threat when they saw him with Santana.
Another student, a dean and a school police officer all went to Santana's aid, and all received non-life-threatening wounds before Lopez was subdued. But they were not able to protect Santana, who died of her injuries later at a hospital.
Lopez is being held on murder charges.
ALSO:
Grief counselors on hand at South East High after stabbing
Cindi Santana Death: Did The School Ignore Warnings?
from the Huffington Post | http://huff.to/pxtKjD
10/3/11 02:49 PM ET Updated: 10/4/11 02:04 AM ET - New developments have come to light in the tragic stabbing of Cindi Santana, a 17 year-old student at South East High School in South Gate, California. The teen died Friday after her ex-boyfriend Abraham Lopez, 18, allegedly attacked her in the courtyard during lunch. Other students and the school dean were harmed while trying to stop him.
Monday morning, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy spoke with KNX radio and revealed that Santana's mother had warned South East High School of potential trouble with her daughter's ex-boyfriend.
In the week before the attack, Lopez had just been released on bail after making criminal threats against her daughter, reports The Los Angeles Times. Santana's mother notified the school of his recent release, and campus security was also informed of the potential threat, reports AP.
After his release, Lopez used his Facebook account to speak out about his ex-girlfriend and her mother. The day before the stabbing, he wrote,
"you made me what i became but like i said the fact that you denied what we had in front of ur mom and my sis is what is breaking me the most you had something good and you threw it away i hope you soon realize," reports NBC.
After the brutal attack, authorities evacuated the St. Francis Medical Center parking structure after Lopez claimed to have placed a car bomb in the Santana family vehicle, reports The Los Angeles Times.
He was booked on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail at Men's Central Jail. He is expected to be arraigned today, reports CBS.
Although grief counselors and increased security measures were brought to South East High School in the wake of this tragedy, it appears that broader efforts are needed to educate students about abusive relationships. Students are speaking out on a Facebook page dedicated to Cindi. Posts range from sadness and confusion to misplaced blame -- one student even wrote, "She got STABBED FOR BEING A CHEATER!!!!!"
On Tuesday at 5pm, a fundraiser is being held by friends of the family to show support - they will be selling tacos in South Gate, California to raise money for the funeral service. The Cindi Santana Memorial Facebook page also provides a donation link.
CLARIFICATION: The fundraiser is not being held at the Santana Residence.
Ex-boyfriend charged with murder of LA-area girl
By ROBERT JABLON Associated Press/from the Eureka Times Standard | http://bit.ly/ohUAEJ
10/03/2011 09:13:29 AM PDT - LOS ANGELES—A murder charge has been filed against the ex-boyfriend of a teenage girl stabbed to death at a South Gate high school last week.
Prosecutors on Monday charged Abraham Lopez with 10 felony counts, including one count each of murder and false imprisonment by violence and three counts each of assault with a deadly weapon. The 18-year-old is expected to be arraigned Tuesday.
The complaint alleges Lopez stabbed and murdered 17-year-old Cindi Santana of South Gate on Sept. 30. Investigators say Santana was stabbed following an argument at South East High School, where both were students.
Lopez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole if convicted. Prosecutors want bail set at $1.2 million. It wasn't immediately known if Lopez had retained an attorney.
Santana died at a hospital on Friday night. Lopez allegedly struck her and stabbed her during a lunchtime argument. The school's dean, a school police officer and an 11th-grade football player were stabbed, cut or otherwise injured when they tried to stop the attack, authorities said.
Ruby Sarias, a high school senior, told KABC-TV that the couple had dated since the ninth grade.
"The thing she told me is he seemed really obsessive. Like, she would tell me that even when they went together, he would get upset about her talking to other guys," Sarias said.
Days earlier, Lopez had been released from jail after being arrested on suspicion of making a criminal threat. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department website, Lopez was arrested on Sept. 25 and freed on Sept. 27—a day after the girl's mother warned school officials that he had threatened her daughter. The county district attorney's office had declined to file criminal charges concerning the alleged threat for lack of evidence.
Lopez sent text messages to his ex-girlfriend implying that he would send friends to beat up her sister's husband but the threats were not specific, according to a district attorney's office charge evaluation worksheet. The girl waited 18 hours to report them to police, it added.
However, authorities recommended further investigation because the ex-girlfriend also claimed that Lopez threatened to distribute intimate photographs of her, which could constitute child pornography because she was under 18.
The girl and her mother notified the principal on Sept. 26 that she had been threatened, said John Deasy, superintendent of the sprawling district, which has more than 678,000 students in K-12. He did not have details of the conversation so it was unclear how urgent the threat appeared, but district procedures for responding to such concerns were followed, Deasy said.
"What we normally do is monitor his attendance, make the young girl as secure as possible," Deasy said. He did not have details of what security measures were taken but said that when students raise concerns about feeling threatened by other pupils—a not uncommon event—officials usually bring in the other person for counseling.
However, Lopez did not come to school until Sept. 30, Deasy said. He did not immediately know whether any efforts were made to contact Lopez at home.
It also was unclear when Lopez arrived on the 3,000-student campus Friday because attendance checks did not show him there in the morning or how the knife was brought onto the campus, Deasy said.
The school, like most in the district, has campus security. Students face random checks with metal detectors, but there are no permanent sensors at the school gates.
There apparently was no protective court order involving the girl, Deasy said. Police, who work with the district on threat assessment, never mentioned any concerns that might have triggered other security measures, Deasy said.
Security measures at South East High School will be reviewed in the wake of Santana's killing on Friday, Deasy said.
Grief counselors were at the school, where students placed flowers and candles in the teenager's memory. Donations were being taken to pay for her funeral.
"Everybody is grieved beyond belief in a case like this. To lose a student is terrible," Deasy said.
Ex-boyfriend headed to court in fatal stabbing of high school girl
-- Sam Quinones/LA Times/LA Now - http://lat.ms/nYdkCJ
October 4, 2011 | 7:06 am - The South East High School senior accused of fatally stabbing his estranged girlfriend on campus is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the case Tuesday in a Downey courthouse.
Abraham Lopez, 18, is accused of killing senior classmate and ex-girlfriend Cindi Santana, 17, Friday during the South Gate school's lunch period.
<<Photo: Abraham Lopez. Credit: L.A. County Sheriff's Department.
He also is charged with bringing weapons to school and with assault for the alleged stabbing of another student, a dean and a school police officer who rushed to Cindi's aid. Their wounds were not life-threatening.
Lopez was arrested Sept. 25 for allegedly threatening Santana and her family. He was jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail but released two days later after prosecutors declined to file charges.
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