SAN DIEGO — Victims and witnesses to the deadly Santana High School shooting in Santee nearly 25 years ago expressed disappointment and frustration Wednesday after a judge agreed to recall the shooter’s sentence — a ruling that sets him up to be released from prison.

Charles Andrew “Andy” Williams was 15 years old when he opened fire between classes on the Santee campus on March 5, 2001. Students Bryan Zuckor, 14, and Randy Gordon, 17, died. Eleven other students and two staffers were wounded.

He was tried as an adult and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.

Changes in the law regarding youth offenders and subsequent court rulings led a San Diego Superior Court judge on Tuesday to find that Williams fit the criteria to be resentenced. And because he was younger than 16 when he opened fire on the campus, his case must be heard in Juvenile Court — which cannot keep him in custody after age 25. Williams is 39.

“He should not get out,” said Santana teacher and football coach Tim Estes, who was shot in the back during the rampage. “He gave two families life sentences and took two lives. They got life sentences, and he doesn’t have to have one. To me, that’s just wrong.”

The District Attorney’s Office has already filed an appeal.

Michael Gordon, who lost his brother Randy in the shooting, attended Tuesday’s hearing virtually and said Wednesday he is hopeful the appeal will be successful. He also hopes Tuesday’s ruling will “spark an open conversation about the current laws,” which he would like to see changed.

Gordon said that when Williams was first sentenced, there was a sense of finality, one that has since been broken by the recent hearings and the parole process, a separate path available to Williams as a youth offender. Gordon said both paths have forced him to “vividly remember” the details of the shooting, “reopening old wounds each time.”

“It’s really tough, we’ve spent a lot of time moving on with our lives,” Gordon said. He said the pain of losing his brother will never go away, even as he has found ways to “endure and celebrate” his brother’s life.

Gordon also said he found it “very alarming” that Tuesday’s ruling came less than 16 months after a parole hearing panel found Williams unsuitable for release.

Some survivors pointed to what they said was the unfairness that the shooter could go free while two students died.

“It is not okay that he was able to give two life sentences on March 5, 2001, and then he’s going to get released because we don’t think it’s fair for juveniles to stay in prison for life,” said Heather Cruz Sikora, 40, who was a 15-year-old sophomore when Williams shot her in the legs.

“They don’t get to come back to life,” Sikora said. “He chose to take two lives and almost take 13 other lives. He deserves to stay there.”

Williams has been in custody since the day of the rampage.

At issue in Williams’ case was whether his 50-year-to-life sentence was essentially equal to life without parole. His attorney argued he qualified under a law that offers a path to release for juveniles who have served at least 15 years of a sentence of life without parole or the functional equivalent.

Appellate courts across the state have split on the question, particularly in the last year. On Tuesday, San Diego Superior Court Judge Lisa Rodriguez followed prior decisions on the question by the San Diego-based 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 1, in ruling that Williams’ lengthy sentence is equal to life without parole.

Rodriguez recalled his sentence, and the case will be sent to Juvenile Court for his resentencing.

Sikora said she fears the ruling sets “a really bad example” for California teens, signaling to them that “you’re not going to spend that much time in prison.”

El Cajon City Councilmember Phil Ortiz was a 16-year-old Santana student when he saw the chaos unfold maybe 50 feet in front of him, and he was watching virtually Tuesday as the judge issued her ruling. “I understand the law changed, but nothing material, no other things have changed. Andy gets a second chance, but Randy and Brian don’t.”

“At some point, someone needs to step in and say, ‘Wait a minute. Is this just? Is this moral?’” Ortiz said.

Caley Anderson was 16 years old and standing just outside the restroom where the shooting started when a bullet missed his head by a foot. On Tuesday, Anderson was in court to show support for Williams’ release. Outside of the courtroom, he told reporters he finds it “shameful” that the community looks at the “callousness and the horror perpetrated by a child” and blames only the child.

“The question I want to ask myself is, ‘How on earth does a 14- or 15-year-old ever get to that level of callousness and depravity?” he said.

Anderson also said he has met with Williams in prison, spoken to him multiple times, and is aware of the work Williams has put toward rehabilitation. “If you talk to him for five seconds, you feel the weight of the burden of guilt that he carries with him every day,” Anderson said.

For the community at large, the effects of the mass shooting continue to ripple, said former Santee Chamber of Commerce CEO Kristen Dare, who had been a student when she ran from the rampage. She has worked to oppose Williams’ release.

“This town was victimized,” Dare said Wednesday. “We’re about to hit the 25-year mark, and it’s still got scar tissue. Everybody remembers where they were that day, how they responded, who they knew, how it impacted them.”

Sikora said she initially could not bear being on campus. But a few years ago, she started working at Santana High as an instructional aide and coaching its flag football team. “I wasn’t going to let him win,” she said, “because, to me, living in fear allows him to win over my living.”

The case is slated for a status hearing in Juvenile Court on Feb. 9.

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