04/29/2003

By KGW and AP Staff

A McNary High School assistant principal has been put under protective guard after someone fired a shotgun at her house during the weekend.

Nicolasa Mohs, assistant principal of discipline, said she thinks that the shot was fired by students facing disciplinary action next week because of their role in an April 22 brawl outside the school that drew a crowd of more than 100.

Nicolasa Mohs, assistant principal of discipline at McNary High School in Keizer, speaks to reporters on Tuesday. (KGW Photo)

“Who would’ve done such a thing? Why?” Mohs asked on Tuesday “We have a very nice neighborhood and nice neighbors, and we don’t have any enemies.”

The shotgun pellets had cracked a window and frame and damaged the house siding, Mohs said. Neighbors reportedly heard squealing tires and a loud noise around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, she said, but her family slept through the shooting.

“I got up and looked around,” said neighbor Irma Santillan. “The dog, of course, was barking already throwing a fit over it. I was just looking and happened to see there was a black little car going by, took off.”

She has been assigned two body guards by the Salem-Keizer School District, school officials said.

“I just trust that nobody really wants to hurt me, that’s my hope,” she said.

McNary High School in Keizer. (KGW Photo)

"That's one of the avenues we will be pursuing in the investigation," said Lt. Dan Cary of the Salem Police Department. "This is going to be followed up by our gang team primarily because of the type of shooting it was. Sounds like your classic drive-by."

Three McNary students were arrested last week on charges of rioting and assault after a large fight. They were among eight teenagers and two adults arrested in the incident, which police say escalated from an altercation the previous week between two students in the school hallway.

The school district assigned Mohs bodyguards once before, after a McNary student tried to kill her following disciplinary action she handed down about six years ago, she said.

"I don't understand what it is that they're trying to accomplish," Mohs said. "If they're mad at me, they should come and talk to me."