Student Kills 3 In School Rampage 14-Year-Old Opens Fire In Moses Lake Classroom Leaving Teacher And Two Students Dead, Another Injured “You Can’t Even Send A Kid To School Anymore?” Nazaria Cantu, Parent

A 14-year-old boy opened fire in a Moses Lake classroom Friday, killing a teacher and two students with a high-powered rifle in apparent retaliation for a student’s teasing.

Killed were teacher Leona Caires, 49, formerly of Coeur d’Alene; Manuel Vela, 14; and Arnold Fritz, 15, said Grant County Coroner Penny Sibley. Caires was the wife of school vice principal Steve Caires.

The three died on the floor of their eighth-grade math class at Frontier Junior High, police said.

A fourth victim, 13-year-old Natalie Hintz was in surgery Friday night at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center with wounds to an arm and bullet fragments in her liver.

Police arrested a Frontier student at the scene, but did not release his name and refused to comment on a possible motive.

But several students identified the boy Friday night as Barry Loukaitas.

A student at Moses Lake High School said several of his friends believe Loukaitas may have been retaliating against Vela for picking on him.

One classmate said Vela, a popular, athletic ninth-grader, teased the boy, who was described as a straight-A student and a “nerd.”

Walter Darden said Vela and the gunman were “always exchanging words.”

“I guess (he) finally got sick of it,” Darden said.

Another student, who asked not to be identified, said, “My friend told me two days ago that he (Loukaitas) was going to kill somebody before he died.”

About 1:40 p.m. Friday, a person wearing a long, black trenchcoat and black hat was seen walking in Loukaitas’ neighborhood.

Neighbor Vern Hasenkamp, who lives two houses down from the junior high, said someone wearing a black coat walked into the south entrance of the school about 2 p.m.

Students in neighboring classrooms said they heard five shots and were then told to escape through windows.

Hasenkamp said he saw police pulling students from windows and running to a nearby church for safety.

“They were pulling them out just as rapidly as they could,” he said.

Students running out the front door said “everybody get out of here quick, he’s shooting,” according to William Neatrour, who was walking past the school when the shooting started.

Neatrour said he heard students running out of the school yelling, “He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun, he’s going to shoot us.”

The junior high was evacuated after the shootings and students were taken home after being bused to Chief Moses Junior High School. As news of the tragedy spread, parents flocked to the school to find out about their children, witnesses said.

Loukaitas’ mother, who asked that her first name not be used, was crying Friday night in the family’s downtown sandwich shop. When asked about her son’s involvement in the shootings, she said, “I don’t have anything to say about that right now.”

The city was in shock Friday night over the latest and bloodiest incident in a string of violent juvenile crimes.

There have been four homicides involving youths in Moses Lake in the last two months, according to police reports, including the kidnapping and murder of a Super 8 employee by a 17-year-old boy in mid-December.

The school had no security personnel before the shootings because there had never been reason to fear such an incident, said school district spokesman P.J. DeBenedetti. This was the first incident of a gun at a Moses Lake school this year, hesaid.

Angry parents said their children should be protected.

Nazaria Cantu, who has lived in Moses Lake five years, thinks the school needs to add security, including metal detectors.

“I mean my God, you can’t even send a kid to school any more? I still have two kids to raise.”

Rick Rocha, who lives near Frontier with his 11-year-old son, also said schools need to increase security measures. “It’s stunning to me because pretty soon he will go there,” Rocha said, referring to his child.

“The schools are going to have to do something different.”

DeBenedetti said the district’s security measures were reviewed by the school board Friday evening, but did not say what changes would be made.

“We are going to do anything to prevent this from happening again,” said DeBenedetti.

Barry Brooks, branch director of the Catholic Family Services, said the shooting should alert residents to the city’s youth violence problem.

“It pulls back the blinders from a small town mentality,” said Brooks. “We are a small town with big-city problems.”

Community officials expect an out-pouring of grief and confusion. The Grant County Mental Health Center will remain open today and Sunday, said counselor Dorene Bendickson. Catholic Family Services counselors also will be available, Brooks said.

Staff of the 540-student school huddled behind closed doors in the center’s downtown offices Friday night.

But the grief of the Vela family

could not be eased. Anna Veleon, Manuel Vela’s aunt, described her nephew as an above average boy from a stable, Christian family who enjoyed music, basketball and drawing cartoons.

“Manuel was such a good boy,” said Veleon.

Friends described Fritz as a sharp student who took honors classes and enjoyed playing chess.

Hintz, also an athlete, played on the eighth-grade basketball team.

The district would not release information about Caires Friday. Her husband, Stephen Caires, is the vice principal of Frontier.

School athletic activities were canceled Friday night and tonight.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 7 photos (1 color) Map of area

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Jonathan Martin, Brian Coddington and Gita Sitaramiah Staff writers