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Grover Cleveland Elementary School Visit

Date confirmed in “UPI” (archived) (“Tuesday [February 7, 1989]”)

Pop singer Michael Jackson handed out audio cassettes and T-shirts Tuesday to youngsters at the elementary school where five children were killed by a man with an assault rifle Jan. 17.

School district officials attempted to discourage onlookers at Cleveland Elementary School, but a crowd of several hundred people gathered by noon.

Upon his arrival, bodyguards quickly hustled the entertainer from his car in the parking lot into Cleveland Elementary School. Inside, he spoke with many of the school's more than 900 pupils and handed out gifts.

Jackson's assistants said his visit to the school was his way of showing concern about the impact of the playground massacre upon its students, many of them Southeast Asian refugees.

Twenty-nine children and a teacher were wounded and five youngsters, aged 6 to 9, were killed by bullets from a magazine-fed AKM-47 assault rifle fired on the playground by Patrick Purdy, who then took his own life.

Some 50 police officers tried to control the crowd of people - children as well as adults -- who flocked to see Jackson. The excited throng was unruly enough that school administrators had to appeal for quiet.

Jackson also planned a visit to a nearby hospital where some of the wounded children were recovering.

'Having someone like this come and visit them will be remembered for a long time,' said Dr. Patricia Dixon, a hospital pediatrician.

The Stockton City Council approved an ordinance Monday night to ban a variety of semiautomatic weapons in the city. A court challenge is likely, however, since less restrictive state law may take precedence.

Diane Batres, head of District Attorney's Victim Witness department, “KXTV” (June 26, 2009) (archived)

Diane Batres wasn't happy back in 1989 when she took a call from someone at MJJ Productions.

"I thought it was someone wanting to make a movie. I was furious," said Batres.

The Cleveland School shootings had happened a couple weeks before -- and Batres was in charge of the District Attorney's Victim Witness department. Then she learned MJJ was Michael Jackson, offering a Stockton visit to comfort survivors of the school attack.

"It was very kind of him to do this. He brought truckloads of gifts to the children and held children in his arms. He was genuinely concerned and expressed his sorrow," said Batres.

Jackson gave videotapes of his recent recordings to the children. One of the songs was 'Man in the Mirror.' Batres heard later from a grateful parent how much that meant.

"One of the mothers called after the experience and said, 'I'm so glad I saw that' because she realized for the first time there were yellow tears, white tears, brown tears and black tears. Every tear was the same color. They all felt the same sadness," said Batres.