Friends & family say student stabbed at Cabrillo College will survive

UPDATE: 11/1/2018 5:30 p.m. A 19-year-old student was attacked and stabbed at Cabrillo College.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said the incident occurred on campus sometime around 12 p.m. Wednesday in the college’s cafeteria. The woman, identified as Asha Allott suffered stab wounds to the mid-section of her body as she was seated in the cafeteria.

Allott was able to run outside where she waited for help to come. She was taken to a trauma center in Santa Clara County where she remains in stable condition.

Deputies found the manager of the cafeteria and other staff members holding the alleged attacker down. Authorities identify the suspect as 49-year-old Steven Wooding from Santa Rosa.

Wooding was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder. His bail is set at $750,000.

“I’m pretty (shaken),” said Dina Zawadzki, a student who was inside the cafeteria during the attack. “It’s so upsetting to see something happen on a holiday where people are just supposed to be having fun and getting together and enjoying themselves.”

Cabrillo College had recently put in a restraining order against Wooding for harassing behavior. According to the sheriff’s office, he was also previously arrested for an assault on a staff member at the college back in 1994, for which he spent several years in a psychiatric institution for what he did.

The school’s president, Matt Wetstein, says he did alert the staff and faculty about Wooding and posted a notice in the faculty room on campus, but did not alert students because he did not want to provoke unwarranted fear.

Wetstein says he is now regretting not telling students about the restraining order, “In retrospect I probably should have done that and I think the next time we have one of these restraining orders we will have a conversation internally about doing that exact thing. Looking back just sort of quarterbacking it from a second look I feel regretful that I didn’t do that and I communicated that to the students this morning.”

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Brian Cleveland told KION the relationship between Wooding and the victim is unknown at this time.

Bri Jennerjohn, another student who works on campus at Cabrillo College, said she did not go to school on Wednesday precisely because she saw a warning posted in a faculty lounge about the suspect with his picture.

“I called my manager (Wednesday) morning and said I saw that (warning) posted and that I don’t really feel comfortable coming in tonight,” she said. “So he said that was fine.”

Jennerjohn did end up going to campus to take a class final, but she was greeted with the commotion.

“I just thought: Oh my gosh, I don’t know if this is him or if this is another incident, I wasn’t sure,” she said. “And I was walking to my classroom, I heard all the students talking about it that someone was stabbed, someone was stabbed!”

She adds that she wishes that warning memo to faculty would have been sent to everyone, including the students, and that perhaps the incident could have been prevented.

“There’s so many students here that you would think if someone were to see him in the cafeteria, maybe they would call someone, perhaps they would confront them, perhaps they would move away from him,” said Jennerjohn. “Any sort of methodology to stay away from him.”

Other students KION spoke with say they understand why the school did not release all of the information to students.

Roland Carter says he sees both sides, “I feel as though there’s pros and cons to them not releasing it, I think we should have been aware of it, but it was withheld for some reasons that I agree with.”

Another student, Alyssa Mickelson, says she doesn’t think the students being told about the restraining order would have prevented the attack, “I don’t know how preventable it could be because not everyone is going to recognize him immediately.”

Cabrillo College counselors are available for any student or faculty member that needs help processing the attack.

The sheriff’s office says they would like to thank the brave manager of the cafeteria as well as the staff members that detained Wooding until sheriff’s deputies arrived. They say their brave actions likely prevented others from being injured.

The president also wants to thank the staff and students who stepped in, along with the quick response by the Sheriff’s Office.

Friends and family said Allot will survive her attack.

UPDATE: 11/1/2018 10:49 a.m. A 19-year-old student was attacked and stabbed at Cabrillo College.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said the incident occurred on campus sometime around 12 p.m. Wednesday in the college’s cafeteria. The woman, identified as Asha Allott suffered stab wounds to the mid-section of her body as she was seated in the cafeteria.

Allott was able to run outside where she waited for help to come. She was taken to a trauma center in Santa Clara County where she remains in stable condition.

Deputies found the manager of the cafeteria and other staff members holding the alleged attacker down. Authorities identify the suspect as 49-year-old Steven Wooding from Santa Rosa.

Wooding was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder. His bail is set at $750,000.

“I’m pretty (shaken),” said Dina Zawadzki, a student who was inside the cafeteria during the attack. “It’s so upsetting to see something happen on a holiday where people are just supposed to be having fun and getting together and enjoying themselves.”

Cabrillo College had recently put in a restraining order against Wooding for harassing behavior. According to the sheriff’s office, he was also previously arrested for an assault on a staff member at the college back in 1994, for which he spent several years in a psychiatric institution for what he did.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Brian Cleveland told KION the relationship between Wooding and the victim is unknown at this time.

Bri Jennerjohn, another student who works on campus at Cabrillo College, said she did not go to school on Wednesday precisely because she saw a warning posted in a faculty lounge about the suspect with his picture.

“I called my manager (Wednesday) morning and said I saw that (warning) posted and that I don’t really feel comfortable coming in tonight,” she said. “So he said that was fine.”

Jennerjohn did end up going to campus to take a class final, but she was greeted with the commotion.

“I just thought: Oh my gosh, I don’t know if this is him or if this is another incident, I wasn’t sure,” she said. “And I was walking to my classroom, I heard all the students talking about it that someone was stabbed, someone was stabbed!”

She adds that she wishes that warning memo to faculty would have been sent to everyone, including the students, and that perhaps the incident could have been prevented.

“There’s so many students here that you would think if someone were to see him in the cafeteria, maybe they would call someone, perhaps they would confront them, perhaps they would move away from him,” said Jennerjohn. “Any sort of methodology to stay away from him.”

KION did reach out to the school for comment on these prior faculty warnings and we will try again in the coming days to get a response from the college.

Cabrillo College counselors are available for any student or faculty member that needs help processing the attack.

The sheriff’s office says they would like to thank the brave manager of the cafeteria as well as the staff members that detained Wooding until sheriff’s deputies arrived. They say their brave actions likely prevented others from being injured.

Friends and family said Allot will survive her attack.