By Former Associated Students Inc. employee Jamie Williams was formally charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder Tuesday.
On the same day, Vice President of Student Affairs Carmen Taylor, who made $210,478 in 2017 according to Transparent California, was placed on paid administrative leave, with Mary Ann Takemoto, associate vice president of Health and Wellness in Student Affairs, taking her place.
However, university spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh said she could not comment as to why Taylor was placed on leave, as it is a personnel matter.
“At this time, Mr. Williams’ connection to the campus is under review,” Carbaugh said.
It remains unconfirmed whether the two university employees knew each other.
CSULB
Carmen Taylor is currently on paid administrative leave from her position as Vice President of Student Affairs.
“We’re looking into it,” Carbaugh said, when asked about the connection between the two.
“…[W]e look into allegations such as these with a sense of objectivity, for we don’t want to cast judgement one way or the other.”
Williams, who left his position at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center in March 2018, was arrested Friday in connection to a shooting which killed his father and stepsister, and injured his stepmother. Hours before the shooting, Williams was reportedly walking around the campus, attempting to air his grievances. Several students and staffers also heard him use Taylor’s name.
According to Carbaugh, some staff members from the offices he visited left for the rest of the day, disturbed by some of his comments. She added that there will be an investigation in which professionals will be interviewing these employees. Following that, counseling and other services will be offered to help employees cope with the situation.
Campus police visited multiple offices in response to reports of Williams being on campus, including the Daily 49er newsroom, the Student Recreation and Wellness Center and Title IX centers. According to University Police Lt. Richard Goodwin, the safety update regarding Williams was not sent out sooner as there were no community concerns.
“We didn’t send out a notification because there were no criminal allegations being made against him, which gave us no reason to believe he was a threat to the community,” Goodwin said.
While Goodwin said that the timeline of Williams’ presence on campus is still being investigated, he did state that the first call to campus police didn’t first come in until 12:45 p.m. Friday and that it appeared he had been on campus since around mid-morning.
Williams’ arraignment took place 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Compton Courthouse in the South Central Judicial District of Los Angeles, where he plead not guilty. A public defender was appointed on Williams’ behalf.
He was charged with a “special circumstance of multiple murders,” according to Ricardo Santiago, a spokesperson from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.
If convicted, the punishment for a special circumstance murder is either life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.
Williams is being held at the LA County Jail on no bail.
The court will reconvene Oct. 24 to set a date for a preliminary hearing. A judge will then review the evidence and decide if the case will go to trial.
Sarah Vehrs, Grant Hermanns and Kat Schuster contributed to this story.
The Daily 49er has a word count requirement, which is why many of these articles are bloated with frivolous details and don’t contribute to the overall story. It’s a standard not practiced in professional journalism and it does the reader and the student writers a disservice to have a newspaper held to a standard normally resrved for high school writing assignments.
How many more people with violent criminal records or unqualified employees were hired under her umbrella?
Seriously with the “DOCTOR” Taylor comment…she’s an embarrassment to anyone with an advanced degree.
What does DOCTOR Taylor’s salary have to do with this article? Odd.
Shameful story!!!!!
Should these people even be working at a University?!!!!
Are there no decent people?!!!!
Why was her salary mentioned?
I think there’s more to Ms Taylor’s involvement with Mr Williams. Please keep in the light. I hope they investigate and get to the bottom of the connection between Ms Taylor and Mr Williams’ actions.