Calif. School Shooter Said Traumatized by Bullying

3/16/01

A former girlfriend of Charles Andrew Williams, the Santana High School

student who opened fire at his Santee, Calif., school, said the 15-year-old

was traumatized by bullying, Reuters reported March 8.

According to Kathleen Seek, before Williams moved to California from his home

in rural Maryland, he was popular and had a lot of friends. Seek described

Williams as gentle and thoughtful.

"He was an excellent young man. He stuck out for anyone who was hurting. If

you were down he would ask what was wrong. He would put himself in a position

to look stupid just so that someone could smile, so that someone could be

happy," said Seek.

She added, "Everyone loved him. You didn't have a reason not to. You couldn't

help but love him."

Her description of Williams was much different than the image of a boy who

opened fire in his California high school, killing two students and wounding

13 others. Reports indicate that students at Santana teased Williams about

his slender physique, often calling him a "freak," "dork," and a "nerd."

"He was different. They didn't take the time to get to know him," said Seek.

"They just accused him of being some kind of person he wasn't. He's a good

guy."

Seek's mother, Mary Nederlander, added, "Andy was a joy to everyone. He was

on the football team. He had an unbelievable amount of friends. He just has a

gentle, kind heart. The person I saw on TV in the police car was empty. That

wasn't the boy who came and ate dinner at our house and called me mom."

While she could not excuse Williams for shooting his classmates, Nederlander

said his actions may have been a result of the pain he was in over the

constant teasing.

"He e-mailed us and told us that he just wanted to come home and that it was

just awful over there. They were teasing him, calling him 'country boy.' He

didn't dress right; he didn't look right. He was skinny, they called him

gay," she said.

"He was under a lot of mental torture and just wanted to come home. When he

visited for summer, he stood in my house and he cried and said he did not

want to go back to California because of all the teasing and the ridicule he

was feeling," Nederlander added.