On Nov. 28, Castilleja students Kaelyn Fisher, Nancy Morales Guzman and Saige Sefcik ‘27 went Black Friday shopping at Westfield Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara. However, their evening shortly turned into a night of shock, panic and fear.
The Santa Clara mall was the site of a shooting that evening. An official statement from the San Jose Police Department (SJPD) stated that “at approximately 5:40 p.m., San Jose Police Department Patrol Officers responded to the Westfield Valley Fair Mall located at 2855 Stevens Creek Boulevard following multiple reports of a shooting. SJPD, supported by several neighboring agencies, arrived quickly, and while early indications suggested this was an isolated incident, county active-shooter protocols were followed out of an abundance of caution to ensure everyone’s safety.”
The San Jose Police Department further shared that the incident was gang-related: “The preliminary investigation revealed a male suspect became involved in a gang-motivated verbal altercation with the adult male victim before producing a firearm from his waistband and firing multiple rounds.”
Police declared the shooting an isolated incident and “officers located three victims: an adult male, an adult female and a 16-year-old female. All were transported to local hospitals with injuries that were later determined to be non-life-threatening.”
Fisher was at Valley Fair at the time of the shooting: “I was in one of the stores called ‘Q,’ near the women’s Macy’s, where the shooting took place.” Fisher explained, “I heard the first shot, and everyone went quiet. Then a couple more rang out, someone screamed and [then] everyone started running.”
Morales Guzman said that she “had gone to the bathroom and was separated from [her] friend group” while “[they] were in another store. [They] were walking back to that store…in the direction of the Macy’s. Then, [they] heard a gunshot, and a swarm of people started running in [their] direction.”
Sefcik said that she was “the first person to run” after hearing the gunshot. In the midst of the chaos, Morales Guzman and her friends “ran through the employee tunnels, and [they] were able to escape outside.”
After getting out of the mall, Sefcik said that she “knock[ed] on someone’s door and [hid] in their house until [her] parents came to get [them].” Sefcik shared, “In the moment, we definitely all thought we were going to die.”
Fisher said this incident “was legitimately chaos” and “was pretty scary since [she] didn’t know if it was an active shooter or not.”
In hindsight, Fisher stated that “it definitely shouldn’t have happened. Everybody, as gun violence is something that affects everyone, need[s] to find better ways to make sure this doesn’t happen.”
This incident has had a significant impact on many Castilleja students involved. Sefick shared that “[sometimes] the middle schoolers will be screaming, and then that will immediately be followed by sirens, just by chance. All of us will jump, and we will all look at each other, because like we had that feeling again.”
This moment represented a sobering reminder of the prevalence of gun violence in the United States, turning an ordinary night into a frightening experience for the students involved. For Castilleja students, the events at Valley Fair emphasized how close to home such violence can feel.
