Photo/ERIC MARKS
Last week at the Sparks Marina, the community mourned the loss of math teacher Michael Landsberry.
by Georg ia Fisher
tRAGEDy SPARKS IN
Northern Nevada gets blindsided by sudden gun violence and death in one of our schools world may never know Jose Reyes’ final thoughts: Why the preteen fatally shot math teacher Michael Landsberry on Oct. 21 at Sparks Middle School, for one, or what compelled him to open fire on a pair of students, both of whom were lucky to survive. After all, their assailant—who brought the 9 mm handgun from home—took his own life, too. “The poor young man kind of looked like a zombie walking,” said social studies teacher Dave Clark, whose classroom adjoined Landsberry’s. The three-time Iraq War veteran says he’d “never been more terrified than I was that Monday morning,” when the sound of gunfire filled his beloved workplace, and the smell of gunpowder hit his nose. He peeked from a window to see children huddled in fear as Landsberry, his close friend and Air National Guard comrade, lay dead on the basketball court. Reyes, who’d also shot a male student by then, continued walking, and Clark soon heard him try in vain to open a nearby door. A third gunshot rang out a moment later—this time for another boy.
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“Then he walked across the playground,” Clark recalled, “and he shot himself, right near Mike Landsberry.” One eighth-grader who witnessed the attacks sounds at once meek and tough when he described what happened. “I see everyone running, and my teacher just falling,” he said. “They were opening the doors and there were so many kids crying, just in panic mode. My friend was hysterical. I had to calm her down.” Trauma surgeon Jim Harris said Renown Regional Medical Center got exaggerated reports of the shooting at first, and that his staff geared up to treat as many as a dozen victims. “We heard there could be as many as six to 12 [emergency patients] initially coming in,” he said, “and that the shooting was still active, and the scene was not under control.” But thankfully, it was. Because of the school’s security system, Reyes never made his way inside the building. And though Sparks Middle and other Washoe County campuses are patrolled by the district’s own police force, officers weren’t present during the shooting, which happened before the first
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bell and lasted just a few minutes. The school’s 600 or so students quickly evacuated to Agnes Risley, an adjacent elementary campus. “I saw my teacher’s body on the blacktop then,” the eighth-grader said. “And that’s when I started crying.” Students were eventually boarded on buses so they could be reunited with their families at Sparks High School. Landsberry, for his part, had calmly tried to stop Reyes, who put a bullet in the teacher’s chest as the two walked toward one another. Police believe that act of heroism held the shooter’s attention long enough for others to find safety. “Because that teacher was shot,” said Lisa Gardner, a witness’s parent and neighbor to the school, “my son was able to run away.” In fact, Andrew turned and fled all the way home as soon as the mayhem began, saving himself from both the danger and the sight of a killer on campus.
Who WAS JoSE REyES?
“tRAGEDy SPARKS” continued on page 14 IN
The surviving victims’ families have stated publicly that they don’t believe their sons |
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(who are both recovering well from shoulder and abdominal wounds, respectfully) were targeted. As of press time, authorities were still tight-lipped about any motive, citing an ongoing investigation. Twelve-year-old Reyes’ grief-stricken parents are cooperating, Sparks Deputy Police Chief Tom Miller said at a press conference, and there’s also a chance they could be prosecuted. Their son’s identity stayed under official wraps until city attorney Chet Adams seemingly let it slip to a journalist a few days after the devastating event, or—if you ask city spokespeople—until a confused reporter spoke with Adams, then printed the name that was already on everyone’s lips. At any rate, out it came. As one of Reyes’ friends later told the Associated Press, he was actually an upbeat kid, oft-smiling, and an eager fan of video games and bike rides. And while he was no big man on campus, Reyes certainly had friends. He had a family, too, though not much is known about them yet.
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OCTOBER 31, 2013
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