RICHMOND, Calif. - Officials at a high school where a student was gang-raped in a courtyard are moving to tighten campus security with the long-stalled purchase of surveillance cameras, powerful lighting, and new fencing.
The measures were disclosed as community leaders sought ways to calm outrage over the Oct. 24 attack at Richmond High School that police said may have involved as many as 10 suspects and 20 onlookers who failed to call police.
“Obviously, there wasn’t enough security or we wouldn’t have had this tragedy happen,’’ said Bruce Harter, superintendent of the West Contra Costa School District.
Administrators have long pushed for the new measures but couldn’t find the money until now, Harter said.
A seventh suspect was arrested yesterday in the attack on the 15-year-old girl after she left a homecoming dance in the industrial enclave near the San Francisco Bay known as one of the nation’s most dangerous cities.
A healing rally and candlelight vigil were planned later in the day.
Ten chaperones, six site supervisors, and four police officers were at the school gym to make sure the dance and nearby parking lots were safe. They thought things were going so well that two supervisors were allowed to leave early, Harter said.
The girl was attacked across campus, where a group of males ranging from 15 to the mid-20s were drinking in the dimly lit courtyard. The victim was invited by a classmate to join the group after leaving the dance.
She drank a large amount of alcohol with them before the two-hour assault began, police said. Officers acting on a tip later found her semiconscious near a picnic table.
Charles Johnson, a Richmond High School security specialist, said one of the supervisors at the dance had been keeping an eye on the girl as she waited outside the gym for her father to give her a ride home.
Sammie Lee Hill, a former police officer and a community relations specialist at the school, said the victim is a caring person and easy to get along with.
“We all know she’s going through a hell of an ordeal,’’ Hill said. “That’s what hurts everybody the most.’’
