How Bad A Boy?

By Jill Underwood/San Diego

None of Andy Williams' buddies hang out much anymore at the skateboard park near Santana High School in Santee, Calif. "Things are a lot different this year," says Sarah Ormsby, 15, a sophomore. "People still talk about him and the incident, but we're a lot better now. We get in trouble now for stuff we wouldn't have before. There's a closer watch on us."

The incident. That would be the day in early March that Charles Andrew Williams, 15, walked into a school bathroom with his father's .22-cal. revolver and, in a six-minute, 30-shot fusillade, killed two classmates and wounded 13 others. He's now in a juvenile lockup, amid legal wrangling over whether he can be tried as an adult.

Williams seemed to fit a familiar profile: an outsider who one day decides to make everyone pay attention. That's not the kid he raised, insists Jeff Williams, Andy's father, who was portrayed as an absentee dad when Andy showed up for his first court hearing without either of his divorced parents present. The elder Williams says that before moving to Santee, Andy was active, well adjusted and well cared for. "We'd go to the beach a couple of times a month. When I was that age, I didn't want to be hanging out with my dad." He says his son snapped because he was picked on. "The school system knew about this and wouldn't solve the problem."

To avoid future problems, Santana now has sheriffs on duty and a tip line kids can call. The wounded students have since recovered, and shared in a fund set up for them and the families of the two who died. Mari Gordon-Rayborn, whose son Randy was killed, attended in June what would have been his graduation. She wore his cap and gown.

--Reported by Jill Underwood/San Diego