SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist
“California Dreaming” could have been written
for a day such as Friday, June 7, 2013.
It was a postcard day of sunshine, light breezes and ocean waves. President Obama was in Santa Monica and
the biggest problem of the day was avoiding the motorcade when driving through
town.
Suddenly, the dream was shattered. A shooter was killing people at Santa
Monica College (SMC). The news
was, instantly, everywhere. The
City responded. Santa Monica
Police and Campus police teamed up.
Schools across the City were put on lockdown. Streets were closed and traffic rerouted. SMC campus was evacuated and the City
held its collective breath.
The first call came in at 11:52 am. Shots were heard. Two men were killed. A house went up in flames. The shooter went on to hijack a car and
terrorize the woman who owned the car into driving him to Pico Blvd where he shot
into a car and a Big Blue Bus. He
then forced the driver to take him to SMC.
The shooter headed for the library. The students who could fled the campus,
dropping their backpacks as they ran.
In the library students barricaded themselves into what they hoped were
safe places.
At 12:O5 pm it was over. Wounded in a shoot out with two Santa
Monica City Police Officers and one Santa Monica College Police Officer the
shooter was moved to the sidewalk where he died.
All around town parents were waiting outside
elementary schools for news and for the decision to be made that it was safe
for the children to leave their schools.
While the parents talked and worried, the children were safe. At John Adams they watched a movie and
had cookies. They came out to
their parents happy and relaxed.
City Manager Rod Gould had, as usual, biked to
work that day. He told of being in
a police car with Police Captain Ken Semko when, at 11:52 am, word came over
the radio of shots being fired, a house in flames. The Captain turned on the lights and sirens and they
listened to the dispatcher giving information to the first responders.
“When you hear automatic gunfire everything in
your DNA says run away,” said Gould.
“Our people were running toward the gunfire.
“We got to Pearl Street and went toward the
library. A man, dressed all in the
black of the police uniform, was down and our first impression was that one of
ours had fallen. Then we realized
it was the assailant.”
“13 minutes,” said Gould, “11:52 to 12:05. It was over. It was chaotic, it was frightening, but everyone pulled
together and I’m fiercely proud of all our officers, our teachers, our bus
drivers, and our public and community service employees.
“We have a mutual aid pact with other law
enforcement agencies that we will help each other in emergencies. We don’t bill each other; we just go
when we’re needed. A small army of
SMPD, SMFD, BHPD, CCPD, LAPD, FBI and ATF were at the Command Center. They formed teams to search the campus. They needed to make sure there were no
more victims needing help. They
needed to make sure no other assailants were hiding on campus.”
On Friday the gunman was still “the
shooter.” A terrifying man with an
assault rifle, a gun, 1300 rounds of ammunition and he was killing people. We learned later that his name was John
Zawarhi. He had gone to school in
Santa Monica and people knew that he had mental and emotional problems as far
back as middle school.
The first people he killed on that Friday were
his father, Samir Zawahri, and his older brother, Chris Zawahri. At the college he shot and killed the well-known
and well-liked grounds keeper, Carlos Navarro Franco. Marcela Dia Franco, Mr. Franco’s daughter, was at the
college with her father that day to get her books for school. She and Margarita Gomez were both shot
during the mayhem on campus and were taken to a trauma center. Neither victim
survived. Six deaths. Five victims. One gunman.
Grief hit hard. People got ready to deal with it. To heal by helping each other. To work to restore a sense of order and confidence. Santa Monica had learned
from other cities that had suffered from similar violence. People talked of Boston, of Sandy Hook,
of Columbine. Santa Monica also
shares with these other communities qualities of resilience and kindness and
empathy in the presence of anguish.
On Saturday Santa Monica’s famous Paddleboard
Races were dedicated to the memory of the victims of the SMC tragedy and
spectators and competitors observed a moment of silence.
By Sunday, the parks were full of children
playing soccer, families were at the beach, and people riding bicycles were
everywhere. It looked like a
normal day in Santa Monica. But at
the SMC Bundy Campus many students, staff and faculty gathered for grief
counseling. Volunteers from the
American Red Cross, the Clergy and from the college were there to help anyone
who asked. Local businesses
donated food and while many people were upstairs in counseling sessions other
people were gathering in the courtyard to eat and talk and be together.
The first of many memorial services was held on
Sunday at St. Anne’s, just blocks away from SMC. The Franco and Gomez families were there. The Mayor was there, the State
Assemblyman was there; neighbors and friends were there. The outdoor sanctuary was
beautiful. Chui Tsang, SMC
President said, “On Friday the tranquility of our campus was broken by
violence. Our deepest condolences
go to the families of Carlos and Marcela Franco and Margarita Gomez. I promise to you that this violent act
will not take us away from our mission.”
On Monday, June 10 over 1000 people came to
together at SMC Corsair Field to mourn.
People who didn’t know each other hugged each other. The victims were remembered and
families of the victims were honored.
Speakers called for people to come together in the spirit of the school
and the community.
Ramona Franco, wife of Navarro and mother of
Marcela, teaches at the St. Johns Child Studies Center. At St. Johns a fund was set up for
employees who wanted to contribute their PDO time (paid days off) to Mrs.
Franco. At the college memorial
funds were being established for both the Franco and the Gomez families.
Sister Maureen Craig of St. Johns said, “This is
the time when people put aside their problems and come to the aid of the person
hurting grievously.”
Americans have shown they feel the same way as
Sister Maureen. In every tragedy
people demonstrate great unselfishness and bravery as people come together to
help and to heal.
Violence, senseless violence has become a fear
we all live with. All of us, it
seems, but not all our Senators and Congressional Members. With 90% of
Americans supporting strict background checks for gun owners they still didn’t
vote for gun control. Why not
support the ban on automatic weapons?
Do they not share the anguish we all feel? Do they feel immune?
The privilege of being an elected official
should not be in the perks of the job, it properly is in the opportunity the
job creates for doing good and for making life better for the people one
serves.
To protect ourselves, our families and our
communities we shall have to use the power of the vote and political and
financial support to insist that gun control laws be enacted. If we succeed in protecting even one
child from the senseless and random violence of a madman it is worth doing.
