Bakersfield-Leah Cleveland says her son Bowe was moved out of the intensive care unit at Kern Medical Center, but still faces a battery of tests on his liver that is riddled with lead shotgun pellets.
Cleveland says she heard reports accused shooter Bryan Oliver may have targeted her son and other students in a hit list last year. She's filing a legal claim to see if that's true. "I feel that what happened should have never happened. I did not know anything about this young man, at all, nothing or I would have pulled him out a year ago."
Leah Cleveland said she was just about to start working out that morning when she received an urgent call from Taft Union High her son Bowe had been injured and to report to the science building. She thought it might be a chemistry experiment gone wrong. When she rushed to the school she streets blocked off with yellow crime scene tape and deputies flooding the street. Her son already had been driven to an air ambulance.
Several students have reported Bowe had been targeted in a hit list by the accused shooter because he was a bully.
On Wednesday Bowe's mom flatly denied that claim through her attorney, Daniel Rodriguez. "So far as we know, some people have said that, but when we drill down and say who said this, when did they say this, what is the basis, it is a big goose egg."
School district officials have declined to say whether accused shooter Bryan Oliver was suspended for two days last year for creating a hit list. They cite state privacy laws. Rodriguez says they will fight to make that information public.
And he says the Cleveland family plans to sue if the district didn't do anything to inform parents about a list or prevent Oliver from accessing a gun.
The district said it does not comment on legal matters.
