Murder Charges Filed in Fatal Preschool Crash

Prosecutors on Wednesday filed murder charges that could lead to the death penalty for the man who said he drove his car into a Costa Mesa preschool playground to execute children earlier this week.

Steven Allen Abrams, 39, faces two counts of murder, seven counts of attempted murder and the special circumstance allegation of multiple murder for ramming his car into the South Coast Early Childhood Learning Center on Monday evening.

Abrams appeared, unshaven and with his hair uncombed, in Orange County Municipal Court in Newport Beach on Wednesday afternoon. Judge Susanne Shaw ordered the Santa Ana ticket salesman to be held without bail.

The murder suspect made no statement, only answering “yes” when the judge asked him to confirm his birthday and name. Shaw postponed Abrams’ arraignment until May 21, at the request of Deputy Public Defender Hector Chaparro.

The mother of one of the two preschoolers who were killed when Abrams drove his car into the playground said she was haunted by her final moments with her 3-year-old son, Brandon Wiener, before he died.

“He fought hard,” Pam Wiener said Wednesday, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. “The doctors had given up at one point. I said, ‘Please come back, Brandon. We need you.’ He tried, but he couldn’t.”

Abrams allegedly told police he targeted the preschoolers because they were innocent reminders of a failed relationship with a woman in the same neighborhood.

The other child killed was 4-year-old Sierra Soto of Costa Mesa.

A teacher’s aide and four other children were injured, two of them severely.

At Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, 5-year-old Victoria Sherman and 2-year-old Nicholas McHardy remained in critical condition Wednesday with severe head injuries.

Abrams, 39, is also accused of the attempted murder of a couple. Police say he struck their vehicle with his car on the Costa Mesa Freeway shortly before arriving at the preschool.

Abrams’ 19-year-old daughter, who told reporters she was riding with her father, said a car cut dangerously in front of him and, enraged, he rammed the vehicle.

Officers said Abrams dropped his daughter off before deliberately driving his car into the schoolyard. He reportedly told them that he was going to execute the children because they were innocent.

Police said Abrams associates the preschool with a failed romantic relationship with a woman who filed a restraining order against him. The woman denies the relationship.

In a voice mail message left at The Times, she said:

“We’re all very lucky to have Steve put away in a place where he can’t do any further damage. He definitely is a very volatile person. . . . His mind doesn’t work like yours or mine. He’s just on a different level. I don’t think that we would ever be able to understand his reasoning. I’m very sorry for what has happened.”

A memorial service for the two young victims was to be held Wednesday night at the Lighthouse Coastal Community Church, across from the preschool. The children also will be remembered during two Sunday services there.