Hart Students Go Through First Day Without Ainsley Freeman

Ainsley Freeman liked to text and play basketball and draw cartoons. She liked boys and she was looking forward to the Promotion dance like every other Hart Middle School eighth-grader.

As is often true with devastating cases like these, the grisliness surrounding her death contrasts with the person her friends knew — a good student, outgoing, sweet.

The 13-year-old was shot to death Monday night inside her Stacey Court home, as was her mother, 37-year-old Amy Freeman Burton. Police are investigating their deaths; there have been no arrests, nor is there a clear motive, but police have said they do not believe a killer is on the loose.

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Parents throughout Pleasanton likely had the following experience Tuesday morning; they had heard about Ainsley's death, and debated about how to break the horrible news to their kids. Middle schoolers — they're not quite teenagers, definitely not adults. But they're also not children, so what do you say? How truthful are you?

Ailish Mitchell-Rodriguez knew about the shootings before she went to bed Monday night. She knew her son Daniel, a 13-year-old at Hart, was friends with a girl on Stacey Court named Ainsley, and she hoped against hope that it wasn't her. Police didn't release the victims' names until late Monday, so Rodriguez went to bed not knowing who it was.

Then, her husband woke her up at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday to tell her that yes, it was Ainsley.

She made the decision to let Daniel read the news accounts. He's mature; he could handle it. But she also made sure he had enough time to process the information before going to school.

When he got to school, he found out that Ainsley had been looking for him in the halls the day before. He had been sick though, so they never met up. She'd wanted to talk to him.

"And now I'll never know what it was," he said on Tuesday afternoon.

It could have been about a boy — she had been wanting to go to the dance with this one guy, and Daniel had been talking to her about that. Maybe there had been some new development.

The two had science and art together. At school on Tuesday, he noticed her empty chair in those classes and saw that other kids were looking too, but no one said anything.

Then in art, he went over to her cubby, looking for an unfinished "Peanuts" cartoon she'd been drawing. The assignment had been to draw something, then make a puzzle out of it. He knew hers was done except for the color. But when he went to get it, it wasn't there — she had taken it with her in the days before.

Daniel says he texted with her a lot, and now he thinks back to their last conversation — it had been about the dance. He tries to think about whether there was something strange in the texts or their talks that indicated something was wrong. Though no one knows a motive for the shootings, he said he can't help but ask questions in his mind.

"She was really close to this one teacher," he said. "She was crying today."

"We were all just so shocked and didn't believe it. I just talked to her two days ago — it's so weird to think I'm not going to see her anymore. I'm sorry that I won't see her."

The news brought back memories of another 13-year-old from Hart who died last year around this same time, Daniel said. His name was Joey Ferrara; , using a gun, and kids were definitely whispering about him in the halls at Hart on Tuesday.

Teachers teared up that day last year, too. And the same counselors were called.

Terry Conde, Hart principal, sent a note to parents Tuesday about Ainsley.

"Ainsley was a wonderful student who embodied the Husky spirit," she wrote.

"Please take this time to recognize those around you and take care of each other," she continued.

"This is a time for healing for all of us. Using the example set by our students, it is important that we continue to come together as a Hart community."

Ainsley had only lived in Pleasanton for about six months, but had already made friends, and had even been asked to be a teaching assistant at school. She moved here with her mom this past Christmas Eve and her stepdad, Christopher Burton. He is not a suspect and is cooperating with police.

Ailish Rodriguez says she and her family will talk with each other about the questions in their minds but will also try to keep it positive.

Like Daniel's little brother Liam, who remembered a time in the park when they were all playing basketball, and they all told Ainsley to shoot.

"She said, 'I don't know how to play,' and then she shot and made it the first time," he said.

So far two Facebook pages have been created in her memory: RipAinsleyFreeman and ainsleyfreemanneverforgotten

Reach Pleasanton Patch Editor Tanya Rose at tanya.rose@patch.com.

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