LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) -- As the community struggles to understand why Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their classmates, it's also struggling to find a fitting tribute to the them.
On a hill overlooking Columbine High School, tall wooden crosses had been erected for the killers, alongside those for each of their 13 victims. But on Friday, 10 days after the attack, relatives of one victim destroyed the markers for Harris and Klebold.By Saturday afternoon, someone had put thigh-high wooden crosses where the 6-foot-tall ones once stood. Flowers were piled up at their bases, just like those for the victims.
But at the small crosses, there were letters from mourners asking "Why?"
"I don't think they should be on the same hill, because what happened to these 13 is not the same as those two," said Sara Zeagler, 22, one of hundreds of people who climbed the muddy hill in pouring rain Saturday. "These crosses wouldn't be here if it weren't for those two. So they don't belong."
That was the feeling of Brian Rohrbough, whose son, Daniel, 15, was killed in the April 20 rampage.
Family members cut up the crosses, and Rohrbough said most bystanders agreed with the action.
"I don't think any thinking person in this country is going to disagree with me," Rohrbough said. "We never ever honor a murderer in the same place as the memorial for his victims."
That made perfect sense to Jody Baker, among the throngs filing past the crosses.
"But they do need to be remembered," said Baker, 31, of nearby Highlands Ranch. "They were kids that died and they probably needed help."
Another mourner, Katherine Pollock, agreed but said she was glad the new crosses were smaller.
"These poor kids -- there was something terribly wrong with them," said Pollock, 29, of Aspen. "I think that some people needed to show them some respect that they obviously didn't get in life."