By Jon Sarche, The Associated Press
DENVER -- They were troubled adolescents, outsiders at school and extroverts in cyberspace, with a fascination for Adolf Hitler and a penchant for darkness -- from their clothes to their imaginations.
Memories of the Columbine High School massacre have reverberated across Colorado as eerie parallels emerged between the 1999 shootings in Colorado and a deadly school rampage Monday in rural Minnesota.
“It just resurfaces feelings that we had with Columbine,” said Beth Nimmo, whose daughter Rachel Scott was among the 13 victims at the school in suburban Denver. “The truth is we've got a generation of broken hearts.”
A 16-year-old gunman killed nine people before taking his own life at Red Lake High School in Red Lake, Minn. At Columbine, Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, killed 12 students, a teacher and themselves on April 20, 1999.
At Red Lake, witnesses said the teen -- identified by the FBI as Jeff Weise -- smiled and waved as he gunned down his victims. Students at Columbine said Klebold and Harris also smiled as they fired.
Gunmen at both schools had been placed in disciplinary programs -- Weise for violating an undisclosed school policy, Harris and Klebold for breaking into a van and stealing tools and other items.
There were other parallels: Witnesses at both schools recounted the gunmen asking victims if they believed in God, and shooting them after they said yes.
Weise apparently posted admiring messages about Hitler on a neo-Nazi Web site. Harris had posted threats on a Web site, and he and Klebold staged their attack on Hitler’ birthday.
Some in Colorado wondered if warning signs had been missed in Minnesota. Weise recently showed a classmate comic books he had drawn, filled with well-crafted images of people shooting each other.
“Have we become so used to this phenomena of kids making threats that we don't take it seriously, or is it that we don't know what to do in this society when that happens?” asked Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was killed at Columbine.
Brian Rohrbaugh, whose son Daniel was killed at Columbine, also speculated that warning signs were missed at Red Lake.
“I suspect we'll learn that just like every other school shooting there was advance warning, a lot of information, and it wasn't acted upon. If that’ not the case this will be unique in school shootings,” he said.
School violence experts have said the country improved campus safety after the Columbine shootings, most notably by restricting access to schools, increasing the number of school police officers, developing emergency plans and adding phones and radios in schools.
School safety specialists also said the Columbine killings shed light on a critical goal: changing school culture. That means monitoring warning signs of violence and stemming bullying.
Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis, who was in charge of the school during the 1999 shootings, said he will call in additional counselors when students return from spring break next week if he thinks they will be needed.
DeAngelis said he was trying to reach Red Lake school officials to offer his support, as administrators of other schools where shootings had occurred contacted him after Columbine.
“I think there’ that common bond there,” he said. “Unfortunately we have been through so much that we're pretty well trained on getting the support that people need.”
Dawn Anna, mother of Columbine victim Lauren Townsend, said the Red Lake shootings made her heart sink to “the bottom of my stomach.”
“I just wished no one would ever know this feeling, and now obviously we have families in another community that do,” Anna said. “They just really have to dearly hold on to each other and hold on to their faith and let others help.”
Nimmo, Rachel Scott’ mother, said she got an e-mail from a Red Lake resident asking her to pray for the community.
“Now they're in shock, they're angry, they don't know why,” she said. “It'll take a long time for them to not cry every day and not weep every day, but at some point if they can find it in their hearts to forgive, they can find healing.”
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On the Net:
Center for the Prevention of School Violence: http://www.ncdjjdp.org/cpsv
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Early Analysis on Minn. School Massacre - Lt. Col. (Secure - Login Required)