Deep mourning' Mourners gathered throughout the day at a makeshift memorial set up outside the high school. It's helping a lot to know that so many people care. They're not going to be here when we go back to school. Residents of the 60,000-resident suburb of Santee are taking the day one step at a time, but the community will be suffering long after the glare of the media spotlight has faded, Mayor Randy Voepoel said. So I'm asking people to keep us in their thoughts and prayers.
East County is in mourning today.
The Grossmont Union High School District has been providing intensive counseling support to students, parents and staff members, Superintendent Granger B. Ward said. All Santana High School employees were in a debriefing and counseling session Tuesday morning. Counselors are being provided by the San Diego County Office of Mental Health, the San Diego County and Orange County American Red Cross and the federal Department of Education, Ward said. We can never forget this incident, but we need to heal. We need to bring back the ties that have been broken.