Child-care center to close for week after shooting

This story was reported on deadline to run in the next day's paper

Bobbie Noonan's Child Care center preschool will be closed today as it undergoes repairs after Friday's shooting death of teacher and mother Christine Marie Lozier-Dunn.

Two meetings will be held this afternoon for staff, parents and children, who received word Sunday by phone the school, at 1217 Cape Coral Parkway, would be closed all week. The Bobbie Noonan Academy day care will remain open; it's located about four miles from the center.

"It's very difficult to process information like that ... this is beyond anything anybody could imagine," said Roberta Noonan, owner of the Cape Coral Parkway center, who was in Chicago on business when the shooting occurred. "I was in total disbelief."

Robert Dunn, 44, the man accused of shooting his 36-year-old estranged wife, allegedly forced his way into a bathroom at the center and shot Lozier-Dunn in front of toddlers. He was arrested and remains in custody, charged with first-degree murder. The couple were in the process of a divorce.

"It's hard to get your mind around it and when I finally did, I was so angry at that man, who was a father himself," Noonan said. "How anyone who is a father could do such a thing in a center full of children."

No children were hurt, but she credits the staff for their ability to protect the youngsters and risk their own lives.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of the staff and how they functioned the way they should have ... putting the children first," Noonan said.

Apart from offering individual and group counseling, the center also will be re-evaluating its safety measures, Noonan said. Staff also will figure out what else can be done to protect children.

"What those (security measures) will be I don't know because he tried the front door and it was secure. He tried the back door and couldn't get in," Noonan said.

She said she has plans to walk the building to figure out how Dunn breached an 8-foot fence near the playground.

One parent isn't comfortable.

"We don't know what we are going to do. This wasn't supposed to happen," said Fred Tavangar of Cape Coral, whose 3-year-old granddaughter, Jasmine Morano, was inside at the time of the shooting. "The day care was the best and safest place in Cape Coral for her, but right now the feeling is not the same."

Jasmine isn't fully aware of the situation, said Tavangar, who was one of two family members of students in the building when shots were fired.

"My point is that there was some stranger in the building. Jasmine just keeps saying, 'There was a monster inside my school,' " Tavangar said about his granddaughter, who has attended the center for two years. "I'm so sorry for that lady. I met her and she was Jasmine's teacher last year ... this shouldn't have happened."

Because of grandparents such as Tavangar, the center has plans to celebrate Lozier-Dunn's life by naming a classroom after her and placing a picture in the room.

"We need to make Christine's life a wonderful thing because she was a wonderful teacher ... she loved kids and never felt she was at work doing work," Noonan said, noting Lozier-Dunn also was a mother to Allison, 2. "We don't want her memory to be lost and right now ... parents and staff are really hurting."