The parents of two teenagers who were tragically shot to death by a fellow student at Saugus High School in 2019 are seeking a collective amount of $50 million, according to their attorneys’ recent court documents. However, lawyers representing the William S. Hart Union High School District argue that the shooting was an unforeseeable “terrorist attack.”
The plaintiffs in the combined wrongful death and negligence lawsuit are Bryan and Cindy Muehlberger, the parents of the late 15-year-old Gracie Anne Muehlberger, and Frank and Nancy Blackwell, the parents of the late 14-year-old Dominic Blackwell.
The teenagers lost their lives when 16-year-old Nathaniel Berhow opened fire at the Santa Clarita school on November 14, 2019. The school’s security footage captured him entering the quad, taking out a .45-caliber handgun from his backpack, shooting five individuals around him, and eventually turning the gun on himself. Three other students were injured.
In a trial brief submitted on Tuesday to Judge Stephen P. Pfahler of Chatsworth Superior Court ahead of the scheduled October 30 trial, the plaintiffs’ lawyers state that Berhow managed to bring a gun into the school through an unmonitored entrance. They further allege that the school district had no program in place to identify troubled students, as admitted by the district itself. The video evidence supposedly proves that the school did not adhere to its policy of having personnel stationed at entrances, and that the assigned sheriff’s deputy, who was responsible for school resource duties, was absent due to being split between multiple schools. Additionally, the deputy had not received active-shooter training.
As per the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ court documents, the district acknowledges that there are frequent threats of violence or suicide requiring intervention from a student resource officer, and the vice-principal in charge of security reportedly stated that it is a matter of “when” rather than “if” an active shooter will come onto campus.
Despite the fact that the start of the day is considered a high-risk time for student violence, one of the four campus supervisors on duty when Berhow arrived on campus at 6:55 a.m. apparently drove around on a golf cart, providing insufficient supervision, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Another supervisor spent approximately half of the 40 minutes that Berhow was on campus refilling a vending machine instead of monitoring the entrance through which Berhow entered, the plaintiffs’ attorneys further state in their court documents.
“This tragedy was foreseeable and preventable,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ court documents assert. “The Blackwells and Muehlbergers will ask the jury to award them the value of the loss of the care, comfort, society, and affection of their two children as a result of the shooting, estimated to be at least $25 million for Gracie and $25 million for Dominic.”
According to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Berhow had a history of self-harm and had written things indicating sadistic and psychotic beliefs. They also claim that Berhow experienced difficulties in his home life and became more withdrawn after his father’s death in 2017.
The court filings include color photos of the two teenagers smiling, as well as images of the location where the shootings occurred.
However, the district’s attorneys argue in their court papers that Berhow “had no known motive and no social connection” to the five students he targeted, and that he had no known history of violence or warning signs.
“Within a span of 10 seconds, and without any warning, Nathan retrieved a handgun from his backpack and shot at fellow students before turning the gun on himself,” the district’s lawyers assert in their court documents. “From a legal standpoint, the district had no obligation to prevent this tragic and unforeseeable terrorist attack, especially in the absence of any warning signs from Nathan.”
According to the district’s attorneys’ court documents, none of Berhow’s teachers had reason to believe that he posed a danger to himself or others. Additionally, an assistant principal assigned to deal with chronic absenteeism and disciplinary issues with students during Berhow’s first three years at the school had no interaction with the teenager, as stated by the district’s lawyers.
In reality, the quad area where the shooting took place was under supervision by campus supervisors before and during the incident, according to the district’s court documents. The documents also mention that Berhow was a junior in the 2019-2020 school year and was enrolled in various subjects, such as physics, American literature, history, aerospace, engineering, psychology, and math. He was also a member of the school’s cross country team.
A number of teachers at Saugus High who had taught Berhow previously submitted sworn statements in support of the district, including psychology teacher Adam Bratt.
“The only issue I had with Nathan was that he failed to hand in some homework assignments towards the end of October 2019,” Bratt mentions. “I informed him that if he submitted them by a certain time, I would give him full credit. He proceeded to submit all the missing assignments.”
Jerome Castaneda, who was the Saugus High campus supervisor at the time, stated that security responded quickly to the sound of gunshots.
“When I heard the first shot, the students started to scatter,” Castaneda explains. “I ran to the nearby cafeteria building, where a door was propped open. I entered and closed the door to secure that building.”
As Castaneda made his way to the cafeteria door, he heard additional gunshots for around 15 to 20 seconds.
“After that moment, I didn’t hear any more shots,” Castaneda recalls. “About three to five minutes later, while inside the cafeteria, I left and noticed people in the quad area assisting injured students on the ground. I went to help them.”
Marcus Garrett, who was the assistant principal at the school, states in his sworn statement that he did not hear the gunfire. However, once informed about it, he locked up the school’s office. Later, he found Berhow’s identification in papers inside the student’s backpack. Garrett adds that he subsequently watched a security video of the incident, which showed Berhow retrieving his gun from the backpack and commencing the shooting, before ultimately falling to the ground.
“The students around him remained calm until the shooting began, and then they scattered,” Garrett shares.
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