Mother Who Fled Valley Honors Slain Preschooler

Aaron and Pam Wiener moved to the Orange County community of Costa Mesa three years ago, trying to escape the terror they experienced while living in the San Fernando Valley.

In January 1997, Pam was robbed at gunpoint as she was leaving a friend’s Van Nuys home. The gunman took about $150 from her, but more importantly, she said, he stole her sense of security.

A month later, gunfire erupted in front of a North Hollywood bank, three blocks from the preschool attended by Brandon, one of her three children. As the two gunmen clad in bullet-resistant body armor went on a shooting rampage, Brandon and his playmates were escorted from the preschool by police officers.

Fearing for their children’s safety, the couple moved--only to find that random violence has no boundaries.

Brandon, 3, and a 4-year-old girl, Sierra Soto, were killed May 3, 1999, when a motorist rammed through a chain-link fence and onto a day-care center playground in Costa Mesa. Several others were injured.

The driver, who is awaiting trial on murder charges, reportedly told police he wanted to execute “innocent” children.

On Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of her son’s death, Pam Wiener was painfully reminded of that tragic event. Standing over Brandon’s grave at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in Burbank, she pondered the ironic circumstances of her son’s death.

“We thought we would be in a much safer place by moving to Orange County,” Wiener said, placing flowers at Brandon’s headstone. “Violence is all around us, and unfortunately there are some things we aren’t in control of. It’s a real scary feeling.”

Wiener, who was born and raised in North Hollywood, said she and her husband decided to relocate because she felt the Valley wasn’t as safe as she remembered from her childhood. Her mother, still a Valley resident, used to leave her front door open, she said.

But as a mother of young children herself, Wiener said she felt vulnerable and scared in the Valley.

They had considered moving to Arizona but opted for somewhere closer, settling on Costa Mesa--the modestly affordable neighbor to affluent Newport Beach. Brandon and his 2 1/2-year-old sister, Shaya, were enrolled into the Southcoast Early Childhood Learning Center. Brandon had been at the preschool for more than a year before he was killed.

On that day, shortly after 5 p.m., Wiener was at the school talking with teachers when she heard a loud crash. Teachers ran outside and found an old copper-colored Cadillac that had smashed into a tree. The driver was still in the car, staring blankly ahead.

Some of the children were running away from the playground; others, such as Brandon and Sierra, lay seriously injured and partially trapped under the car.

Neighbors who witnessed the incident worked to lift the vehicle and free the children.

Wiener said she caught a brief glimpse of her son before she was led, screaming, to a waiting car and taken to the hospital, where Brandon died a short time later.

“Every day since has seemed like a bad one,” she said. “There isn’t a minute that goes by when I’m not thinking about him.”

She and Cindy Soto, the mother who lost her daughter, are working together as advocates for safety improvements at day-care centers. Both families have sued the preschool, claiming negligence on the owner’s behalf.

The two women released balloons late Wednesday in a private ceremony at a Newport Beach cemetery where Sierra is buried.