Rim of The World High School(Homicide)

Start Date: 12/16/2019

Description:

Over the weekend a 16 year old who was a student at Rim of The World High School in Lake Arrowhead was murdered (shot). Student had lived in the community most of his life and was well known by most students (This is a mountain community and small high school of approximately 700 students- many students had been in school with this student since kindergarten).
I was contacted Sunday night by Mr. Beavers as Mountain Counseling had been called in to provide counseling and support to the students at Rim of the World High School, where the victim was a student. Mr. Beavers was working with the school district on a plan of action and would be meeting with them in person at 7am Monday morning and would not have approval for the teams until that time (though he felt positive he would receive approval). RD Steve Booth approved us being on standby by and placed the deployment request on BAND. At 7:20 Monday morning I received notification that "School administration was very supportive of involving HOPE" and had approved the teams working with Mountain Counseling.
Daltrey and I arrived at 8:45 am and were joined by Leslie/Abby and Jane/Kiss by 11:45. When we arrived we were immediately introduced to the Superintendent (Michelle Murphy) and the counselors assigned to the site.
We were stationed in the Library where the counselors were housed. Students had been advised that counselors were available. When I arrived there was one student present, and another two came in shortly after. One student immediately approached Daltrey and began petting him, she quickly disappeared and then returned with several other students. Thought the morning students came into the library looking for Daltrey ("Is it true there is a dog here"). The counselors commented on how, before we arrived they had minimal interactions and were amazed and the drastic change in numbers once were there.
Students would come in and gather around petting the dogs and then writing on a memorial wall that students had established for the student (the "wall" was later off limits and a paper memorial created in the library). Many students returned several times throughout the day to interact, making keeping track of numbers a challenge. After the other teams arrived, one of the counselors asked for Daltrey and I to go to the continuation school (located adjacent to the campus) and see those students- she escorted through the two active classrooms there where students were allowed time to interact with Daltrey.

Agency: Mountain Counseling
Teams:

Leslie White/Abby & Jane Horsfield/Kiss


Region: