Post by LadyBlue on Mar 8, 2012 18:50:08 GMT -5
Forty-year-old Arthur J. Tineo, suspected of shooting at Willcox High School students and staff, is being held at Cochise County Jail in Bisbee on a $2 million bond, set at his initial appearance in court Friday morning.
One of the students, a freshman, was hit with bullet shrapnel in his face and shoulder area and sustained cuts to his right cheek and right lower jaw from the shrapnel and breaking glass from the window, according to the Willcox Police Department's probable cause statement.
Justice of the Peace Trevor Ward in Willcox heard Tineo by video from Bisbee at 9:30 a.m.
Tineo, who has been residing a block from the school, has been charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder; prohibited possession of a firearm; disorderly conduct with a weapon; two counts of discharging of a firearm in the city; assault; endangerment; aggravated assault of a teacher; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; and two counts of assault.
More counts of endangerment and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon may be added, as the total number of players, coaches, umpires and one bus driver were "in immediate danger and extremely close proximity to the field of gun fire from Mr. Tieno," the probable cause statement says.
During his hearing, Tineo said he has worked at the pistachio fields in nearby towns, Bowie and San Simon, and was expected to "be back at work today. I cannot pay (for an attorney) while I'm in here," he said. "I have a paycheck to pick up Saturday."
Despite Ward's telling Tineo twice he had the right to remain silent, he wanted to make a statement. As some was inaudible, a portion of it follows:
"I need a dismissal, because I show just cause," he told Judge Ward. "There is a wartime clause invoked. There are shootings and killings outside of town ... and I asked the kids to get moved out of the area because of all the stuff happening. NSA is already in effect."
There has been no rash of shootings or murders occurring outside or inside of town.
What happened
At 3:14 p.m. Thursday, two students were backing out onto Bus Barn Road at the school to get a bucket of balls near the high school baseball field, where junior varsity players were preparing for practice and the high school varsity was preparing for a game with Elfrida's Valley Union High School.
The gunman was standing outside of the school campus on Airport Road in a vacant lot and shot at the vehicle, putting a single hole in the back windshield and exiting the vehicle through the right rear passenger door window, spraying glass and shrapnel onto one of the students inside the vehicle.
Both boys jumped out of the vehicle, with the driver, a junior, turning toward the gunman and yelling, "What the hell?" said an eyewitness, who is an employee at the school. The gunman then raised the rifle toward them.
The other student, a freshman, yelled at the driver that the man had a gun and he began running in toward the gym.
The school employee, driving a van, said he told the junior to jump in his van, and he began backing away as he called 9-1-1.
"As I backed away, the man raised the gun and shot again, but it hit a tree" near the baseball field, he said.
The employee said, "I am a hunter and I can tell a high powered rifle when I see it."
JV Coach Ty White said he and the junior varsity players on the field heard what they thought was a car backfiring, and then when he heard a second loud bang, the team started running toward the back of the varsity field dugout and then the gymnasium.
The school went into lockdown for more than two hours until police determined there was no more viable threat, said Chief of Police Jake Weaver.
"Our primary concern was not getting information out to the media. It was to make sure there was only one shooter, to account for the victims in the car, and there were not other victims that had not been reported," he said.
"The Willcox police is allotted 11 officers, has three vacancies and one on medical leave. We're at 75 to 80 percent strength, and we still have to do everything that is required," he said. "We had the suspect detained within three minutes of the 9-1-1 call and in custody within eight minutes. But we still had to process the scene and be sure there were no others involved."
Weaver said they did "not want to release any information to the media until they had accurate information. We did give information to some parents who came on campus after the suspect was in custody."
Tineo's preliminary hearing was set for Monday, March 12 at 10 a.m. in Willcox Justice Court No. 4, or if he has posted bail, it will be on Thursday, March 22 at 10 a.m.
www.bensonnews-sun.com/articles/2012/03/07/news/news05.txt
One of the students, a freshman, was hit with bullet shrapnel in his face and shoulder area and sustained cuts to his right cheek and right lower jaw from the shrapnel and breaking glass from the window, according to the Willcox Police Department's probable cause statement.
Justice of the Peace Trevor Ward in Willcox heard Tineo by video from Bisbee at 9:30 a.m.
Tineo, who has been residing a block from the school, has been charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder; prohibited possession of a firearm; disorderly conduct with a weapon; two counts of discharging of a firearm in the city; assault; endangerment; aggravated assault of a teacher; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; and two counts of assault.
More counts of endangerment and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon may be added, as the total number of players, coaches, umpires and one bus driver were "in immediate danger and extremely close proximity to the field of gun fire from Mr. Tieno," the probable cause statement says.
During his hearing, Tineo said he has worked at the pistachio fields in nearby towns, Bowie and San Simon, and was expected to "be back at work today. I cannot pay (for an attorney) while I'm in here," he said. "I have a paycheck to pick up Saturday."
Despite Ward's telling Tineo twice he had the right to remain silent, he wanted to make a statement. As some was inaudible, a portion of it follows:
"I need a dismissal, because I show just cause," he told Judge Ward. "There is a wartime clause invoked. There are shootings and killings outside of town ... and I asked the kids to get moved out of the area because of all the stuff happening. NSA is already in effect."
There has been no rash of shootings or murders occurring outside or inside of town.
What happened
At 3:14 p.m. Thursday, two students were backing out onto Bus Barn Road at the school to get a bucket of balls near the high school baseball field, where junior varsity players were preparing for practice and the high school varsity was preparing for a game with Elfrida's Valley Union High School.
The gunman was standing outside of the school campus on Airport Road in a vacant lot and shot at the vehicle, putting a single hole in the back windshield and exiting the vehicle through the right rear passenger door window, spraying glass and shrapnel onto one of the students inside the vehicle.
Both boys jumped out of the vehicle, with the driver, a junior, turning toward the gunman and yelling, "What the hell?" said an eyewitness, who is an employee at the school. The gunman then raised the rifle toward them.
The other student, a freshman, yelled at the driver that the man had a gun and he began running in toward the gym.
The school employee, driving a van, said he told the junior to jump in his van, and he began backing away as he called 9-1-1.
"As I backed away, the man raised the gun and shot again, but it hit a tree" near the baseball field, he said.
The employee said, "I am a hunter and I can tell a high powered rifle when I see it."
JV Coach Ty White said he and the junior varsity players on the field heard what they thought was a car backfiring, and then when he heard a second loud bang, the team started running toward the back of the varsity field dugout and then the gymnasium.
The school went into lockdown for more than two hours until police determined there was no more viable threat, said Chief of Police Jake Weaver.
"Our primary concern was not getting information out to the media. It was to make sure there was only one shooter, to account for the victims in the car, and there were not other victims that had not been reported," he said.
"The Willcox police is allotted 11 officers, has three vacancies and one on medical leave. We're at 75 to 80 percent strength, and we still have to do everything that is required," he said. "We had the suspect detained within three minutes of the 9-1-1 call and in custody within eight minutes. But we still had to process the scene and be sure there were no others involved."
Weaver said they did "not want to release any information to the media until they had accurate information. We did give information to some parents who came on campus after the suspect was in custody."
Tineo's preliminary hearing was set for Monday, March 12 at 10 a.m. in Willcox Justice Court No. 4, or if he has posted bail, it will be on Thursday, March 22 at 10 a.m.
www.bensonnews-sun.com/articles/2012/03/07/news/news05.txt