SANTEE, Calif. — A 15-year-old boy fired randomly at fellow students and had eight bullets left in his gun when police cornered him in a bathroom after he killed two teen-agers at school, investigators said Tuesday.
Friends said the scrawny freshman accused in the nation's latest high school bloodbath talked about his plans over the weekend, and they took him seriously enough to pat him down before school started Monday.
One adult even warned Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams not to commit "a Columbine," and tried to call the boy's father but didn't follow through. But no one is known to have reported the threats that preceded Monday's attack that also wounded 13.
During a news conference, authorities said the carnage could have been much worse if not for the swift actions of a sheriff's deputy and an off-duty police officer who was on campus.
When the boy surrendered, his gun, a .22-caliber long rifle revolver, was fully loaded with eight rounds of ammunition, its hammer cocked, investigators said.
"I do believe that if it had not been for the conduct of the people involved ... it would have been even worse," Sheriff Bill Kolender said.
The gunman appeared to be firing indiscriminately, sheriff's Lt. Jerry Lewis said. Most of the students who were hit were struck as they fled down a hallway between the school's library and administration office.
"The information we have from the evidence and the witnesses (is) the suspect was firing randomly at anybody who was going by," Lewis said. "Any student who was going by he was shooting at."
Although Santana High closed Tuesday, students, parents and others gathered outside to place flowers at a makeshift memorial site and share their grief. Some expressed anger that acquaintances of Williams heard him make threats in recent days but failed to warn authorities.
"I think they're to blame, too," said Helen Howard, a 10-year resident of the community who came to the high school with her husband. "I just can't understand why they didn't say anything."
During a morning counseling session at a church, an American Red Cross representative asked for a show of hands of people who had trouble sleeping the pervious night. About a third of the 200 people who attended indicated they did.
"You may just feel like your heart is beating all the time and you can't calm down," Robert Bray, a Red Cross disaster mental health worker, told the audience. "I want to reassure you that people do get through this."
Teachers were told to report to school district headquarters.
As authorities dug into the case, the first question for many was: How could so many people see the warning signs and fail to act?
"That's going to be haunting me for a long time," said Chris Reynolds, 29, who heard the threats and didn't report them.
Williams, held in a juvenile facility Tuesday, will be charged as an adult with murder, assault with a deadly weapon and gun possession, District Attorney Paul Pfingst said. The adult prosecution is mandatory under a ballot measure approved last year, and the boy could face multiple life terms. Arraignment was set for Wednesday.
Pfingst said the gun belonged to Williams' father, Charles, a lab technician at the Naval Medical Center-San Diego, since July. It had been stored in a locked cabinet, investigators said. Sheriff's and FBI officials Monday night searched the Williams' apartment and said they removed seven rifles, a computer, a plastic crate filled with papers and files, and about a half dozen bags filled with evidence.
Bryan Zuckor, 14, and 17-year-old Randy Gordon were killed; 11 other students and two adults a student teacher and a campus security worker were wounded. The adults and four students remained hospitalized in good or fair condition.
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