Shootings hit close to home for two Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Friday, March 23, 2001 | 9:53 a.m.

Thursday afternoon's latest high school shooting at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Calif., took place more than 300 miles away from UNLV's practice field, but it was still too close to home for a couple of Rebel football team members.

For redshirt freshman offensive tackle Jimy Zoll, it brought back the haunting memories of the recent deadly shooting rampage at his alma mater, Santana High in Santee, Calif.

And for graduate assistant Chris Caminiti, it was a case of "What if?"

Caminiti has already accepted the head football coaching position at Granite Hills next season. He is expected to leave UNLV in mid-April to begin his duties there.

"If (former UNLV graduate assistant) Jonathan Himebauch hadn't left (to play center for Los Angeles in the XFL), I'd probably have been there right now," Caminiti said.

Instead, Caminiti was busy helping run defensive drills for UNLV on its first day of spring football practice.

"I don't know enough about what happened to really comment on it," Caminiti said. "I just know there was a shooting there. Obviously, these things can happen anywhere these days."

Meanwhile, for the 6-foot-6, 300-pound Zoll, who is battling JC transfer Matt Williams for John Greer's vacant starting right tackle spot, the Granite Hills' shooting rekindled some bad memories.

Zoll just spent his spring break back in Santee attending the funerals of two Santana High students who were shot to death on March 5, allegedly by Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams. Thirteen other students were wounded.

"It was really hard to deal with when I first found out about it," Zoll said of the Santana shootings. "When they said it was Columbine-like shooting ... most of my friends that are still there are athletes, so I feared for the worst.

"I still have a younger brother, Bryan, who goes there and is a junior. I called our house right away when it first happened but my mother (Patricia) had already gone down to pick him up. But I didn't know that. I couldn't get any information. My dad called me and didn't have any news either. Then the calls started flooding in from all the other family members and it was just really hard because I didn't know anything."

Zoll eventually found out that his brother had been spared in the shooting. However, several other people he knew weren't so lucky, including Randy Gordon, who died in the attack.

"I had him in a couple of my classes," Zoll said. "He was a real nice guy. I never heard him say a bad thing about anybody. He was a gifted student and athlete. ... A couple of other guys who were shot had been on the football team and played with my brother over the years. I knew them but not as closely."

Zoll said his younger brother almost got caught in the area of the shootings.

"Actually, his class let out right there," he said. "He was just lucky to get out of class a little early that day and move on to the other area he hangs out at before the shooting started.

"It really puts things in perspective. One of the first things I thought about as I watched it on TV was what if I had been there? What would have happened? I used to walk past that area at about the same time every day. When they were describing everything on TV, I knew exactly where everything was."

Zoll returned to his old high school last week for the funerals and also several memorials.

"It was really tough because it was real quiet," he said. "It wasn't the same place I knew. It was real cold."

Zoll was just starting to put his mind back on football when he heard the news of the Granite Hills High School shootings. Like Santana High School, Granite Hills is part of the Grossmont School District.

"It's just horrible that kids feel this is their out, this is the way they can get attention," he said. "There's just got to be a better way, something we can do for the schools so that they can help these kids who feel they have no other way to change things but with violence. It's just really awful and sad."