Preschool Was Target, Driver Says

The man who plowed his car into a Costa Mesa playground, killing two preschoolers and injuring five other people, confessed to police that he was angry for being spurned by a woman who once lived nearby, authorities said Tuesday.

“I was going to execute these children because they were innocent,” Steven Allen Abrams told detectives after his arrest on suspicion of murder, said Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith.

Abrams, who is expected to be charged with two counts of murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon, had no direct connection to the preschool, Smith said, although “in his mind, he associated the preschool with the neighborhood he used to live in . . . with a former girlfriend.”

Witnesses said Abrams appeared to intentionally drive his car through a chain-link fence onto the preschool grounds.

Besides the two dead youngsters--a 3-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl--four other children, ages 2 to 5, were injured, one critically. A 24-year-old teacher’s aide was also injured.

Abrams had pleaded guilty in June 1994 to stalking the woman he said was once his girlfriend. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years’ probation, according to court records. He has said they had a romantic relationship, a claim that police say the woman denies.

The couple had not seen each other for years. But three weeks ago, they met by chance at a Staples office supply store a few blocks from the preschool, police said. Investigators are not sure what happened during the meeting, but believe it might have been a factor in Monday’s crash.

On Tuesday, Abrams’ 19-year-old daughter, Stephanie, expressed deep regret over her father’s actions but added, “I believe it wasn’t my dad that did it. I believe he wasn’t mentally sane when he did it.”

Stephanie Abrams said she was raised by her father, a caring single parent.

“He worked six days a week, always cooked me dinner,” she said. “Whenever my friends needed a place to stay, he would let them stay here. He was almost the perfect father.”

She said her father might have been reacting to the stress of a traffic accident 30 minutes before he drove his car onto the preschool playgrounds. Steven Abrams had rear-ended a vehicle in the carpool lane of the Costa Mesa Freeway.

She said her father had never talked about hurting anyone before. But she says he sometimes expressed frustration over his relationship with the woman, and the restraining order that “had him labeled a stalker.”

Her father had loaned the woman $800 to $1,000 so that her young daughter could have an eye operation, Stephanie Abrams said. When the woman ended the relationship, Abrams charged that she had paid back only a portion of the money.

Police painted a less sympathetic portrait of Abrams on Tuesday, saying he lashed out at the schoolchildren because that would make a “larger statement.”

“He told everybody, in his words, he wanted to execute those children,” Smith said.

As word spread that the deaths of two small children may have been intentional, outrage mixed with grief.

“I’m angry,” said Andrew Wright, 33, whose two youngest children were playing in the sandbox when Abrams’ car plunged through the fence, injuring his 4-year-old son, Ian.

Now he must explain to his children that their playmates are gone.

“Why isn’t Brandon [Wiener] at school today?” Ian asked his friend’s father at an early morning prayer meeting.

For some, the heartbreak was too much to contain. Sheryl and Randy Hawkinson, the day-care center’s owners, held each other as Sheryl Hawkinson spoke to employees and parents.

“I don’t have words to express how I feel,” she said. “I just want you to know that every one of your children are my children.”

As the day wore on, the flowers piled higher. Crosses were stuck into the ground. Helium balloons decorated with Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore floated in the air.

“We gave our babies extra hugs and kisses in your memory XOXOXO” read one note.

A card addressed simply to Cindy”--mother of victim Sierra Soto--was tucked into one bouquet.

The magnitude of the loss hit everyone hard.

Businesses lowered their flags to half-staff. The Orange County Board of Supervisors adjourned its meeting Tuesday in memory of the two toddlers.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims as they mourn the loss of their loved ones,” said Supervisor Jim Silva.

The recent massacre of students at Columbine High School outside of Denver was mentioned by many.

And as in Colorado, many were drawn to the scene of the tragedy, now the site of a makeshift shrine.

Four-year-old Christopher Woycheese held his father’s hand and clutched a bouquet of pastel carnations with the other. The little boy placed the flowers on the sidewalk near the preschool.

Scott Woycheese, whose eyes were red from crying, said he lived in the neighborhood and had almost enrolled Christopher at the preschool. “Today’s a real good day to take your kids out of day care and hug them,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

How the Tragedy Unfolded

Police say Steven Allen Abrams intentionally crashed his car into a Costa Mesa day-care center playground, killing two children and injuring four others and a teacher.

Source: Lt. Ron Smith, Costa Mesa police

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times