TRAGEDY PROMPTS CLOSING OF CENTERS; CHILD-CARE SITES SWAMPED BY CALLS FROM PARENTS.

Byline: Troy Anderson and Sherry Joe Crosby Staff Writers

Just moments after the North Valley day-camp shooting Tuesday, frantic parents deluged day-care centers across the Valley with calls while the centers locked their doors and arranged to send children home.

City park and recreation programs near the shooting site also took emergency measures to ensure the safety of children.

``If some lunatic is loose, who knows if somebody could come here,'' said one father as he picked up his daughter at the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Center in West Hills. ``We have no idea what this guy could do.''

Jeff Rouss, executive vice president of Jewish Community Centers of Los Angeles, said officials have stepped up security at their other 12 sites in the region.

Unsure whether the gunman was targeting Jewish centers, the Bernard Milken campus, a sister facility of the North Hills Jewish Community Center, asked the Los Angeles police to send officers and called parents to pick up children.

``We are horrified. We are saddened by this,'' said Jack Mayer, executive director of The Jewish Federation/Valley Alliance in West Hills.

Despite the shooting, a scheduled kickoff for the center's $4.5 million Sports & Youth Complex still would take place Tuesday evening, he said.

At Children's Wonderland in the Warner Center, a secular day-care center, officials canceled parent tours of the facility, locked all doors that led to the street and kept children indoors.

``We're not allowing anybody inside the premises who doesn't belong here,'' said Mary Willoughby, assistant director of the center, which received dozens of calls from alarmed parents.

Willoughby said it will take a long time to recover from the emotional fallout. ``The teachers are a little uneasy, the parents are uneasy, we're all emotionally upset,'' she said.

Steve Soboroff, president of the city's Recreation and Parks Commission, said all nearby parks and recreation centers immediately went into an emergency operation after the shooting.

``Basically, it's `no in, no out,' '' Soboroff said. ``Any kids who are in a program are immediately taken care of and we don't let any people in the buildings.''

Rabbi Steve Tucker of Temple Ramat Zion in Northridge said children in day care were moved to a locked area and parents called to take them home.

At Temple B'Nai Hayim Children's Center in Sherman Oaks, officials hustled their 20 charges indoors as soon as they heard the news. ``We took children inside right away and we stayed away from the windows,'' said Tatyana Ingel, head teacher of the temple's preschool.

At Temple Beth Hillel, a Reform congregation in North Hollywood, officials considered hiring a security guard.

Jewish temples and preschools in the Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks areas opted to stay open following Tuesday's shooting.

A police officer was stationed at Congregation B'Nai Emet in Simi Valley until the 18 children at the Reform temple's summer day camp went home for the day.

``There is no threat, no reason to believe there will be any problems,'' said police Sgt. Bob Gardner. ``They were just feeling a little uncomfortable.''

Staff Writers Phillip W. Browne, Robert Monroe, Rick Orlov and Krystn Shrieve contributed to this story.