SALT LAKE CITY -- The murder-suicide of a Salt Lake City high school cafeteria worker and her husband brought the number of school-associated violent deaths to 48 this year, said a national expert on school safety.

"Although incidents like this certainly stem from an employee's personal matter, they spill over into the school and affect the entire school," said Kenneth Trump, president of a Cleveland consulting firm, National School Safety and Security Services.

The bodies of Marisela Lavalle, 39, and Federico Cervantes-Lavalle, 52, were found on a grassy area in front of the West High School faculty parking lot across the street from the school's north entrance when police arrived just after 6 a.m. No one else was injured, and no students were involved in the Monday morning shootings.

Witnesses reported seeing Cervantes-Lavalle get out of his car outside the parking lot, where his wife had just parked, said Salt Lake City Police Department spokesman Dwayne Baird.

A struggle ensued before he pulled out a .38-caliber handgun and shot Lavalle at least three times in the head and chest, Baird said. Witnesses said Cervantes-Lavalle then shot himself once in the head.

Police cordoned off the area as students arrived to school and held up sheets to block their view before the bodies were removed by the medical examiner's office.

Because the incident occurred before school started, canceling classes was not necessary, Principal Margery Parker said. She made an announcement to students at 8:30 a.m. that they were safe, she said.

The couple was in the process of a divorce, Baird said, and the wife was living with a roommate.

Trump said the 48 deaths this year, including two other pairs of murder-suicides, is in addition to 60 non-death shootings and more than 160 other high-profile violent incidents, like stabbings and riots, since the school year began in August.

"The murder-suicide that happens at 6 o'clock in the morning is still going to have an impact on the entire school community," Trump said. "Where the problem still has a direct impact is on the emotional, psychological and physical safety of children and staff."
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D4.

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