US marks Columbine, 10 years on

Monday, April 20, 2009 at 9:17 PM Posted by Beijing News


Flags flew at half-mast across Colorado Monday as America remembered the Columbine High School massacre, 10 years after the tragedy that left 13 people dead and 23 others wounded.

Relatives of victims and community leaders gathered to reflect on the horrors of April 20, 1999, when heavily-armed teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a bloody rampage through the halls of their high school.

On Sunday, around 400 people attended a candlelight vigil at Littleton's Columbine Memorial ahead of a 5:00 pm 2300 GMT ceremony Monday to mark the 10th anniversary of a day that etched itself into America's national psyche.

The massacre was one of the first mass-shootings ever to unfold on live television, with haunting images beamed around the world of injured students scrambling from windows as heavily armed police SWAT teams moved in.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, who on Friday ordered flags on all public buildings across the state to fly at half-mast, said the massacre "will continue to live in our memories.

"People to this day remember exactly where they were when they first heard about the tragedy unfolding in Jefferson County," Ritter said.

The killings of 12 students and their teacher marked a "tremendous loss of innocence in America, and their memories must not be forgotten" he added.

As it has done on every April 20 since the massacre, Columbine High School was closed Monday.

The school's long-serving principal, Frank DeAngelis, who has vowed to remain in the job until every student who was in kindergarten on the day of the attack has graduated, will be among those attending Monday's service.

Kristi Mohrbacher, who escaped uninjured as a 16-year-old student at Columbine when the shooting took place said she felt obliged to attend.

"I feel almost pulled there to see how everyone is doing and where everyone is," Mohrbacher, 26, told USA Today. "A lot of people have made their peace with it, but it doesn't mean they're forgetting it."

Highlighting the sensitivities surrounding the anniversary, television mogul Oprah Winfrey on Monday cancelled an edition of her talk show that had been due to spotlight the shooting.

Winfrey said in a statement on her website she had pulled the pre-taped special after deciding that it gave too much attention to killers Harris and Klebold, who committed suicide after the massacre.

"Today, hold a thought for the Columbine community. This is a hard day for them," Winfrey said.

While Columbine became a catalyst for a national debate about gun control in the United States, where the right to possess firearms is enshrined in the constitution, attempts to restrict weapons have largely fizzled.

The administration of former President George W. Bush failed to renew a 10-year moratorium on the sale of assault rifles that expired in 2004.

President Barack Obama's administration has said it plans to renew the ban, which has resulted in soaring sales of firearms since last year's election.

But recent polls suggest that support for stricter laws on gun control is at an all-time low, with a CNN survey showing just 39 percent in favor of more restrictions compared to 54 percent eight years ago.



REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

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