With school out Friday, Madel Duran and her 10-year-old son, Victor, knew just how to spend their free afternoon. They made the short trek from their Oxnard home to honor a boy they never knew.
At E.O. Green Junior High School, mother and son placed a hot-pink flower lei and a wooden rosary on a growing makeshift memorial for slain eighth-grader Lawrence King.
Police say the 15-year-old, who students say had been teased at school for his effeminate dress, was gunned down early Tuesday by a student in his English class.
His alleged assailant, Brandon McInerney, 14, has been charged with first-degree murder with the special allegation of a hate crime. He was being held in Juvenile Hall in lieu of $770,000 bail and will be tried as an adult.
"It's a tragedy for Oxnard, because this has never happened before," said Victor, a fifth-grader who expects to attend E.O. Green next fall. "And it should never happen again"
Although other local shootings have occurred near schools or in their common areas, this week's killing inside a classroom was a first for Ventura County, authorities said.
As news of King's killing continued to spread Friday, Oxnard residents said they had been shaken deeply by the sensational crime in their backyard.
"This is a good community filled with good people," said Duran, 40, adding that her older son had gone to E.O. Green with no problems. "This is a good school. What everyone wants to know is: Why did this happen? We don't understand."
An Oxnard father who would identify himself only as Robert said he too was saddened, not only by the senseless loss but by the black eye the week's events might give the city he calls home.
"When you say you're from Oxnard, people always immediately think 'gangs,' " he said as he watched his daughter and her friends frolic outside an ice-cream shop in the city's refurbished downtown. "But it's not all gangs and violence here. It's a friendly place and a good place for families."
The crime rate typically is higher in Oxnard than in Ventura County's other nine cities. The city also has more gang- related crime, prompting police and prosecutors to designate two areas where known gang members are restricted from gathering.
But residents say that is simply a reflection of the city's transformation from a tiny agricultural town, where farmers grew lima beans and sugar beets, to Ventura County's biggest and most diverse city. Oxnard has an estimated population of 193,000, of which about two-thirds are Latino.
