Student Shot by Campus Police to Sue

A sophomore at California State University at Long Beach whom a campus policeman shot December 5 is planning to sue the officer and perhaps the university and state for up to $3 million.

Mike Reagan, aged 19, was carrying a toy life-sized M-16 weapon which police officials said yesterday he pointed at Sgt. Stephan King, a public safety officer, after King saw the weapon and said "freeze, police." Two bullets struck Reagan in the leg and upper chest and he was originally in guarded condition in the intensive care unit at Los Altos Hospital in Long beach but was reported in stable condition yesterday.

Reagan's attorney, Stephan R. Butler, said yesterday that Reagan and another student who was with him at the time told him King fired without warning.

The vice president of student services, John W. Shainline, released two statements this week criticizing the game called "Assassins" or "Killer" and asking students to "find recreational outlets other than with guns, playguns or anything that can be considered a weapon or mistaken for a weapon."

The game, which students at Harvard briefly played last year requires players to "kill" their opponents using toy guns until only one player remains.

However, Butler said the two students were simply playing a game like "hide and seek," with the toy guns and were not involved in the game of "Assassin."

Robert Breunig, campus director of public affairs said yesterday King apparently believed the two students were burglars, adding that there have been eight recent break-ins in the area where the shooting took place.

The campus police and the district attorney's office will investigate King's actions in the shooting, Brennig said, adding that King, an 11-year veteran of the force, has been reassigned to office duty.