Spring Break
Flags lowered on 10th anniversary of Columbine
Kristen Wyatt - Associated Press
Issue date: 4/21/09 Section: News
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Flags flew at half-staff over the school in the south Denver suburbs, and dozens of mourners lay roses and carnations at a nearby memorial.
About 70 people gathered outside the state Capitol in Denver to push for gun control, while lawmakers inside passed a resolution honoring the victims.
"Columbine will not become just a metaphor for tragedy," Rep. Ken Summers told lawmakers before they passed a resolution called "Triumph Over Tragedy." Summers was a pastor in the Columbine neighborhood when the shootings occurred.
Two seniors at Columbine unleashed an attack with guns and pipe bombs on the morning of April 20, 1999. A bigger bomb, which they hoped would destroy the crowded cafeteria, failed to go off.
The gunmen, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, committed suicide.
Silent mourners streamed by to pay their respects at the Columbine Memorial on a hill in Clement Park overlooking the school. Many wiped away tears, and some sat with eyes closed in silent reflection at the memorial's fountain.
Roses in every color were placed on tablets memorializing the victims. Some people left unlit votive candles or tied handwritten notes with ribbons to flowers.
"I just felt I had to be here today," said Kelsey Snyder, 23, who was in eighth grade at a Denver school when the massacre happened.
"I was just scared senseless because none of us could understand why anyone would do this," she said.
Columbine called off classes Monday, as it has every year that the anniversary falls on a school day. A police patrol car idled out front.
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