Bay Area

Parents of Slain Teenager File Wrongful Death Suit Against Stockton School District, Former Administrators

The parents of a Stockton teenager who was stabbed to death last year at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School have filed suit against the Stockton Unified School District for failing to adequately ensure the safety of their daughter. Alycia Reynaga, 15, was fatally stabbed April 18, 2022, at the high school after the alleged killer, 52-year-old Anthony Gray, entered the school’s campus through an unlocked and unsupervised gate, according to the lawsuit filed this month by Reynaga’s mother, Monique Vallie, and father, Manuel Reynaga.

Published

3 years ago

April 3, 2023

Oakland Post

Alicia "Lala" Reynaga is remembered on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. The 15-year-old was killed at Stagg High School. (Victoria Franco via Bay City News)

By Eli Walsh
Bay City News

Alycia Reynaga, 15, was fatally stabbed April 18, 2022, at the high school after the alleged killer, 52-year-old Anthony Gray, entered the school’s campus through an unlocked and unsupervised gate, according to the lawsuit filed this month by Reynaga’s mother, Monique Vallie, and father, Manuel Reynaga.

Reynaga’s parents named the district as a defendant in the lawsuit as well as then-district Superintendent John Ramirez, Jr., Alonzo Stagg High School Principal Brett Toliver and an anonymous group of 100 administrators, teachers, district staff, security personnel and other authority figures employed by the district.

Vallie and Reynaga argue in the lawsuit that district and school employees have the same responsibility as parents for protection and supervision of children while they are at school.

As a result of Alycia Reynaga’s death, her parents allege in the lawsuit that the district, school and relevant employees are liable for negligence and wrongful death.

“In advance of and at the time of Gray’s intrusion onto campus and stabbing of Alycia, each defendant knew or should have known that students, including Alycia, were subject to a foreseeable risk of harm from unauthorized trespassers, but failed to take reasonable steps to adequately protect students, including Alycia, from that risk,” the legal complaint from Vallie and Reynaga alleges.

Vallie and Reynaga allege that Gray, who was not affiliated with the school, parked his car in the school’s south parking lot and exited brandishing a knife.

Gray then allegedly entered the campus through an unlocked gate and chased students and attempted to enter locked doors before stabbing Alycia “multiple times.”

Alycia Reynaga was then taken to San Joaquin County General Hospital where she died from her injuries.

Vallie and Reynaga allege in the complaint that the district failed to take action to increase protection of students after previous violent events at SUSD schools, including a 2019 stabbing of a 14-year-old girl at a school in the district.

The complaint alleges that in April 2021 the district eliminated the position of Emergency Services/School Safety Program Coordinator, which was responsible for overseeing safety drills, education and compliance. That position allegedly remained unfilled as of April 18, 2022.

The complaint also alleges that the Stockton Police Department received more than 30,000 calls regarding SUSD schools over the previous decade, including 83 calls specifically about activity at Alonzo Stagg High School.

A San Joaquin County court said earlier this year that Gray was not mentally competent to stand trial for Reynaga’s death. Gray was charged with multiple crimes in connection with the stabbing, including first-degree murder.

A spokesperson for the district was not immediately available to respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.