Woman killed outside school in Green Valley

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.

A woman was shot and killed this morning in the parking lot of a Green Valley private school and Henderson police were searching for her killer.

Police rushed to Warren-Walker School on Windmill Parkway at Green Valley Parkway just after 8 a.m. after reports of multiple shots fired, said Henderson Police Chief Michael Mayberry.

Mayberry said it was unknown what relationship, if any, the dead woman had to the school. No further information about her was immediately released.

Officers discovered the woman's body and were told by witnesses the gunman -- described as a white man, 5 feet 10 inches tall, of average build and with dark hair -- had fled on foot.

The school was immediately locked down, Mayberry said, and he emphasized that no children were in danger. It appeared that no students had witnessed the shooting, Mayberry said.

Ron Bennett, headmaster of Warren-Walker, said his staff was following emergency procedures in keeping all students indoors.

"We are contacting parents and letting them know our kids are safe, which is obviously everyone's top priority," said Bennett, who announced shortly after 10 a.m. that classes for the day were canceled.

Warren-Walker has about 300 students whose families pay $12,000 annually in tuition.

After the shooting, police helicopters swirled overhead and officers spread out through the surrounding neighborhood.

Uniformed officers, with guns drawn, used police dogs to search backyards, drainage arroyos and walking trails for signs of the shooter. Police said witnesses told them they saw what appeared to be a man running from Warren-Walker eastbound on Windmill Parkway.

Worried parents of students at the school gathered early today at a small retail complex at Green Valley Parkway and Windmill across from Warren-Walker.

Pete Petekin arrived at the campus at about 8:30 a.m. intending to drop his daughter off for preschool. Instead he found the area blocked off with yellow crime scene tape.

"At first I thought it was a traffic accident," Petekin said. "I couldn't believe it when they told me someone had actually been shot."

Carrie Wijesinghe, another parent, heard word of the shooting on the radio and drove quickly to the school to check on her daughter who was in kindergarten. She said she was relieved when police officers at the scene told her no children were involved in the incident.

"I'm feeling a little calmer," Wijesinghe said. "I feel terrible for the woman who died. We're all worried that she's a parent or a teacher or someone we know."

By 9:30 a.m., police were allowing parents to collect their children from the meeting point across from the school. Parents who arrived on scene, asking for their children to be brought out to them, were accommodated, Mayberry said.