Columbine: Reminders linger 5 years later
Paul Nussbaum | KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Issue date: 4/21/04 Section: News
The auditorium was below the library‚ and Andres and his terrified students could hear the thudding explosions they later learned were the shootings of 22 students.
"It's hard to get through a day without thinking about it‚" Andres said.
Principal Frank DeAngelis said certain mundane events trigger five-year-old memories for him.
"I relive it and relive it‚" DeAngelis said‚ rubbing his face with his hands. He remembers coming out of his office at about 11:25 a.m. and seeing Harris fire a shotgun at him from about 60 yards away‚ shattering the plate-glass windows behind him.
"I said to myself‚ 'Oh my God ... I'm going to die. What's it going to feel like to have bullets pierce my body?' I froze there. Then I heard some girls come out of the gym‚ and they didn't know what was going on. That made me move. I went down that hallway to warn them."
The shooter did not follow DeAngelis. The principal said it was because the shooter was distracted by Sanders coming up the stairs.
"Dave probably saved me from being shot. I go through survivor's guilt - I lived and my best friend died‚" DeAngelis added.
Sanders was shot and bled to death while waiting vainly with several students for rescue‚ as hundreds of sheriff's deputies and police officers waited outside the building for hours. One of the students who tried to save Sanders later committed suicide.
The aftermath of the Columbine killings has been five years of healing and recrimination‚ lawsuits and investigations‚ vindictiveness and forgiveness‚ staying and leaving.
The enduring question of why the shootings occurred nags. An investigative panel heard reports from many students‚ teachers and parents who blamed an atmosphere of bullying and cliques. Columbine became the impetus for schools around the nation to adopt zero-tolerance policies toward bullying and weapons.
Andres‚ the music teacher and football coach‚ said he saw the killers' journals and is persuaded that the shootings "were not about bullying - they were just crazed with hate. But it's almost like 9/11 - the people who really have the answers can't be asked the questions."
"It's hard to get through a day without thinking about it‚" Andres said.
Principal Frank DeAngelis said certain mundane events trigger five-year-old memories for him.
"I relive it and relive it‚" DeAngelis said‚ rubbing his face with his hands. He remembers coming out of his office at about 11:25 a.m. and seeing Harris fire a shotgun at him from about 60 yards away‚ shattering the plate-glass windows behind him.
"I said to myself‚ 'Oh my God ... I'm going to die. What's it going to feel like to have bullets pierce my body?' I froze there. Then I heard some girls come out of the gym‚ and they didn't know what was going on. That made me move. I went down that hallway to warn them."
The shooter did not follow DeAngelis. The principal said it was because the shooter was distracted by Sanders coming up the stairs.
"Dave probably saved me from being shot. I go through survivor's guilt - I lived and my best friend died‚" DeAngelis added.
Sanders was shot and bled to death while waiting vainly with several students for rescue‚ as hundreds of sheriff's deputies and police officers waited outside the building for hours. One of the students who tried to save Sanders later committed suicide.
The aftermath of the Columbine killings has been five years of healing and recrimination‚ lawsuits and investigations‚ vindictiveness and forgiveness‚ staying and leaving.
The enduring question of why the shootings occurred nags. An investigative panel heard reports from many students‚ teachers and parents who blamed an atmosphere of bullying and cliques. Columbine became the impetus for schools around the nation to adopt zero-tolerance policies toward bullying and weapons.
Andres‚ the music teacher and football coach‚ said he saw the killers' journals and is persuaded that the shootings "were not about bullying - they were just crazed with hate. But it's almost like 9/11 - the people who really have the answers can't be asked the questions."