High school suffers 5th fatality in a year — 'It's almost more than we can deal with'

MARYSVILLE — Coping with the death of 17-year-old Levi Whiting, a talented golfer with a knockout smile, who was killed in a car accident last summer, would have been more than enough for the students at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

Mourning only Ariana Gallegos, a well-liked sophomore killed by a hit-and-run driver last December, would have been profoundly difficult, too.

But the shooting death of 17-year-old Chase Roodzant earlier this week was the fifth time in the past year that the 2,800 teens at Marysville-Pilchuck have had to grieve for a student or former student.

"It's almost more than we can deal with," Principal Peggy Ellis said yesterday. "Our kids are having to be much more resilient than life should require them to be."

Roodzant, a sophomore at the school last year, was shot by a 17-year-old friend Wednesday evening and died shortly after midnight Thursday. The two were visiting a 26-year-old Marysville man at an apartment, and the arrested teenager was handling a gun when it fired, according to Marysville police.

"There's still some loose ends out there, but right now it appears to be an accident," Cmdr. Steve Winters said.

The teen was arrested on investigation of second-degree manslaughter and was being held on $25,000 bail, Winters said.

Police said they were still looking into who owned the gun. They said the 26-year-old, who was questioned and released, was not in the room when it happened, but they may present a case involving him to the prosecutor's office for review. They would not elaborate, and Snohomish County prosecutors could not be reached for comment.

Police also would not disclose the identity of the arrested youth, and Ellis said she could not comment on whether he was a Marysville-Pilchuck student. Other students said he was a former student who was being home-schooled. They also said he was a close friend of Roodzant's, and they had no doubts that what happened was an accident.

Roodzant wasn't attending the high school this year — he was also being home-schooled — but the friendly, easy-going youth who loved fishing, hunting and camping had numerous friends there. They struggled to comfort each other when the news reached school.

"Normally, you don't see our big 6-3, 6-4 high-school kids with tears in their eyes, but they did really well by each other," Ellis said.

While she was describing the effect his death has had on the school, Ellis yesterday was interrupted by a girl who came into her office weeping.

"There's been a lot of crying — really a lot," said junior Leon St. Onge, a second-cousin and close friend of Roodzant's. "People have been trying to talk about how funny he was and trying to laugh as much as possible."

Roodzant "told you straight up how it was. ... He really looked out for his friends," he said. "He was really sensitive, even though most people wouldn't know."

Once again, the more than a half-dozen counselors and two psychologists at the state's largest school are finding themselves with full offices. Once again, talk in the hallways is about makeshift memorials and funeral services.

"Everybody is like, 'How many people are going to die at this school?' " sophomore Melody Silvia said yesterday.

Last August, Whiting, who was going into his senior year at the school, and Cory Haynes, 18, who had been a senior, were killed instantly when the car they were riding in missed a sharp curve on Sunnyside Boulevard. They were close friends, Ellis said, who had "personalities that could melt a bucket of ice in a second."

St. Onge said they were also in the same circle of friends as he and Roodzant. "It's very hard," he said.

On Dec. 5, Gallegos, who was born in Mexico and talked about joining the U.S. Air Force, was walking to her school-bus stop when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver.

Over the Christmas holiday, Jeremy Parkerson, a friendly, funny senior with a close circle of friends, was killed in a car accident. And in the previous two years, Ellis said, the school lost five of its roughly 200 staff members — four to illness and one in a helicopter accident.

"The (school) population number says that things are going to happen," Ellis said. But "it's a lot. ... It's too many kids to lose in one year."

Janet Burkitt: 206-515-5689 or jburkitt@seattletimes.com.