Shooting In L.A.
The Nightmare
Jewish parents had to wait and worry and pray.
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WENDY J. MADNICK
The Jewish Journal Of Greater Los Angeles
Los An eles
tanding in the blazing August
sun, the parents of the chil-
dren and counselors at the
North Valley Jewish
Community Center in Granada Hills
did their best to stay calm. Hour after
hour, as announcements came over
loudspeakers from the police who
were keeping them and the packs of
reporters at bay behind yellow-taped
barricades, the mothers and fathers
hung onto these thoughts:
Their children were safe. Their chil-
dren were going to be okay. Soon this
nightmare would be over.
The incident began around 10:45
a.m. (Pacific Time) when a man later
identified as Buford 0. Furrow, 37, of
Olympia, Wash., entered the building
and without a word began shooting a
9-millimeter assault rifle, wounding
first the receptionist, Isabelle
Shalometh, 68, who was grazed by
bullets as she was making a phone call.
He continued shooting as he walked
down a short hallway, injuring three
children, one critically, and a 16-year-
old camp counselor. Buford surrendered
Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Carli Morgenstern, 17, was one of
three counselors watching over 14
kindergartners and first graders in the
"Aleph" classroom. Carli said she
heard the gunshots and then saw the
wounded counselor run into the
room, blood dripping down her leg.
The other counselors frantically gath-
ered the children together and ran to
the JCC's parking lot and then across
the street before heading for the con-
valescent home next door.
Carli said the center had held no fire
drills and that the counselors were not
trained in how to handle an emergency
"I never thought about security or
that we didn't have a security guard,"
she said later. "It never bothered me.
This is such a friendly place; every-
body knows everybody else.
News of the incident shot over
phone lines and television sets, into
living rooms and cars stuck in traffic
and through corridors of offices where
parents had been working unaware.
Robert Goldberg had been about to
leave for his job in Tarzana, Calif., when
his wife called him. He ran to his car
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and took the fastest route he could, lis-
tening to the radio and trying not to
panic as he thought about his nine-year-
old daughter, Jessica, a JCC camper. He
arrived in time to hear police announce
that the parents of all the children with [-\
injuries already had been notified and
were being taken to area hospitals.
Goldberg said Jessica had been
attending programs through North
Valley for almost a year. Before that she
was at the Valley Cities JCC. His wife,
Susan, said she had never heard of any
threats against the North Valley center.
"It's a shame. This has been like a
home to her," said Susan. "But if this
is religiously motivated I'm not going
to keep her here. I'm the daughter of
survivors and we cannot afford to for-
get we need to keep our guard up."
The atmosphere at the JCC — that
of a deranged carnival — did little to
quell loved ones' fears. Cameras and
news trucks crowded the barricaded
street. Reporters outnumbered anxious<
parents three to one. News helicopters
crowded the sky, making it impossible
to hear police and fire officials' con-
stantly changing announcements.
Meanwhile, inside a church where
police had moved the children, Carli
and the other JCC counselors attempted
to keep their young charges occupied.
"The kids really didn't know what <
was going on," she said. "We told
them it was bad people makirig a lot
of noise and that seemed to satisfy
them. And then the police came and
brought crayons and markers and then
we ate lunch and watched TV."
By about 3 p.m. Tuesday, parents
were finally reunited with their chil-
dren, some at a church near the JCC
and others off-site with other JCC chi12 –`
dren who had been on two field trips.
Jeff Rouss, executive vice president
of the Jewish Community Centers of
Greater Los Angeles, released an
announcement stating security had
been stepped up at each of the Jewish
Community Center sites in the Los
Angeles area.
C:\
But the official announcement
made little difference to the victims or
witnesses of the shooting. Home safe
with her parents Tuesday night, Carli
said she was still scared.
"I heard them say on the news the
camp is open tomorrow, but I'm not
going," she said in a low voice. "I
don't want to go back." Li
,