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AUG. 16 — A California teenager who killed two
classmates and wounded 13 others in a school shooting has
tearfully apologized as he was jailed for 50 years.Charles
Williams did not tell the court why he opened fire with his
father’s handgun at Santana High School on March 5, 2001, but
he said he felt “horrible about what happened. ”Judge Herbert
Exarhos called the attack vicious* and fiendish*, but noted
that Williams had endured* a difficult life at home and had no
previous criminal convictions*.“If I could go back to that
day, I would never have got out of bed,” the 16-year-old said,
his voice breaking. He said the question of why Williams
committed the attack remains unanswered.“In all likelihood, it
is a question the defendant* will be struggling with daily to
answer for himself,” Exarhos said.Prosecutors* had asked the
judge to impose the maximum sentence of 425 years, saying
Williams coolly* planned the assault* at the suburban San
Diego school and shot classmates as they ran in terror.The
teenager’s father has said his son, then 15, was the victim of
frequent bullying* after moving to Santee from Twentynine
Palms, a desert community east of Los Angeles.But Deputy
District Attorney Kris Anton said the harassment* Williams
said he suffered, such as having his skateboard stolen or
being punched in the chin, did not justify the shooting.“The
defendant is the bully. He took a gun to school and shot
innocent kids,” Anton said during the sentencing hearing.In
June, Williams pleaded* guilty to two counts of murder and 13
counts of attempted murder. The assault at the 2,000-student
campus killed two boys, aged 14 and 17, and wounded 11 other
students, a teacher and a campus monitor. (Difficulty:
senior)
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