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January 20, 2011 (La Mesa) – Police confiscated an arsenal of weapons from the home of David Schreiner, whose phone call to police about a shooting at Helix High School promoted authorities to secure the campus January 14th. Search warrant records obtained by ECM news partner 10 News indicate that authorities seized 40 rifles, pistols, shotguns and muskets as well as six knives, a dagger, a tomahawk, a hatchet, a machete, a leather sap, and a camouflage ballistic vest.
Schreiner, a military veteran and tank commander during the first Gulf War, has been battling post-traumatic stress disorder for nearly 20 years, his brother told 10 News. A police officer indicated Schreiner showed signs of mental instability, pointing to a tree and insisting that a sniper was pointing a scoping rifle at him. Schreiner was involuntarily confined for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation.
Some of the weapons were from a vintage collection of Schreiner’s late father, according to his brother.
“The guns were not purchased by him,” La Mesa Police Lt. Dan Willis told East County Magazine. “If someone happens to be barred from possessing a gun due to mental health issues, one could still get access to such weapons if he were to move to a house where the residents had guns. Even though that would still be a violation for a person to do that, this is one explanation how he was in a house with guns.”
Asked whether the community would be notified upon his release, Willis said that the initial evaluation, which can take up to 72 hours, “Doctors can either release the subject or refer him to another facility for further evaluation and treatment.” He added that County Mental Health does not provide notification when a patient will be released.
Psychologist Michael Mantell praised authorities for their handling of the arrest, in which no one was harmed. “My guess is this was a ticking time bomb ready to go off and we were lucky people stepped in…which is to ensure that he does not have access to his weapons until we are convinced that he is safe and we are safe,” he told 10 News.
Willis reiterated that students were never in danger. “Officers from the beginning were staked out at the suspect’s house and we had a pretty good idea he was inside while resources were being garnered to prepare to make contact with him. There was no direct threat ever made to the school,” he concluded, adding that Schreiner’s call to El Cajon Police Department was vague, if troubling.
But some neighbors remain ill at ease, concerned about the prospect of a neighbor in need of mental health services having access to large stockpiles of guns and ammunition—the consequences of which became deadly apparent in the recent Arizona massacre that left six people dead and 19 others injured.
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