Related Content

Did the Roosevelt High incident change your opinion about school safety?

	No, schools are safe
	25%
	No, concern is the same
	44%
	Yes, concern is increased
	23%
	Yes, need more officers
	7%

CONTINUING
COVERAGE

May 18: Schools face challenge with disturbed kids
May 17: Autopsy report suggests teen wasn't taking meds properly
April 20: Dyer offers to meet with family
April 19: Report raises questions in fatal school shooting
April 19: Columbine changed safety measures in schools
April 18: Fresno teen's death called 'suicide by cop'
April 17: Roosevelt student may have wanted to die, Chief Dyer says
April 16: Officer kills young attacker at Roosevelt High

Roosevelt High schooting scene
Photo gallery (warning: graphic content)
Map of shooting scene

---

– All Job Categories –  Accounting Admin & Clerical Automotive1 Banking1 Biotech1 Broadcast - Journalism1 Business Development Construction Consultant Customer Service Design Distribution - Shipping Education Engineering Entry Level Executive Facilities Finance General Business General Labor Government Health Care Hotel - Hospitality Human Resources Information Technology Insurance Inventory Legal Legal Admin Management Manufacturing Marketing Nurse Other Pharmaceutical Professional Services Purchasing - Procurement QA - Quality Control Research Restaurant - Food Service Retail - Grocery Sales Science Skilled Labor - Trades Strategy - Planning Supply Chain Telecommunications Training Transportation Warehouse

A Fresno police officer assigned to Roosevelt High School shot and killed a sophomore on campus Wednesday after the 220-pound, 6-foot-2 teen struck him on the head with a baseball bat, authorities said.

The body of Jesse Carrizales lay sprawled near the basketball courts for hours as officers investigated the incident. The campus was put on immediate lockdown, and hundreds of anxious parents gathered outside the school's gates, pleading for information.

Carrizales' family said he has no history of violence. They said Carrizales, who turned 17 last month, was on medication for depression but was responding well.

"We want to know what led up to this. What happened? We don't know. No one will tell us anything," said Carrizales' sister, 27-year-old Elisa Ortega, at the family's southeast Fresno home, where their mother, Virginia Carrizales, was in her son's bedroom crying, hugging his pillow.

The attack and shooting happened at 11:54 a.m. just outside a portable office that houses campus police. No one seemed to know why Carrizales attacked the officer, identified by students as Junus Perry.

"He never said a word to officer Perry before he struck him," said Tony Clayborne, a Roosevelt senior who saw the shooting from a classroom window.

Police Chief Jerry Dyer said the 10-year-veteran of the department could have been killed if he hadn't fired. Perry was taken to Community Regional Medical Center for a 2-inch gash on his head and later released.

VIDEO: News conference with Police Chief Jerry Dyer

VIDEO: Students leave school after lockdown is lifted

In a news conference, Dyer described Carrizales' weapon as a bat broken off at the handle, with electrician's tape wrapped around the exposed end.

The officer fell backward from the blow, Dyer said, and the magazine of his handgun fell out as he hit the ground. The student approached the dazed officer, who pulled another weapon from an ankle holster and fired, he said.

Junus Perry	Jesse Carrizales

"Fortunately, this officer has a secondary weapon, and in this case, the weapon probably saved his life," Dyer said.

Parents, alerted by text and cell phone calls from their children, gathered outside the school's main gates on Tulare Avenue.

They shouted to school authorities on the other side of the chain-length fence: "When will the kids be released? Tell us what happened."

School officials didn't answer. People burst into tears as rumors swirled: A girl was dead. No, a boy. No, a boy and a girl.

Reina Rios, 37, banged her body against the gate and dropped to her knees, sobbing.

"We know a boy is dead, but who is he?" she cried.

By 1:30 the crowd had swelled to about 200 and grown angry. Some were shaking the fence. One woman shouted: "Give us our children!"

School administrators started releasing students about 1:45 p.m. No official word about what happened went out to parents until 3 p.m.

Behind the gates, some students and school employees had witnessed the shooting.

Tony Marroquin, 18, said he was walking from the cafeteria to his fifth-period science class when he saw Carrizales hit Perry with a bat.

"The kid went after him. Whacked him in the side of the head," he said. "Girls started crying. Mr. Perry got his other gun. Boom! It was loud. Boom! And the boy just fell on the ground.

"There was blood dripping from his head when he fired his gun."

On other parts of the campus, students and teachers were getting warning text messages and e-mail messages from friends and colleagues.

Continued on the next page >