GOLDEN, Colo. — Leaders of an attempt to recall the sheriff who directed police response to the Columbine High School massacre are ending their effort, because they fell short of the signatures needed.

Thursday was the deadline for submitting signatures to get on the November ballot a recall of Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone.

Judy and Randy Brown led the recall effort, accusing Stone's department of ignoring their warnings that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold planned a violent attack. The Browns' son, Brooks, was threatened by Harris, and for a time was incorrectly described by Stone as a suspect in the massacre.

"This was not about revenge," the Browns said in a statement. "This was about accountability, about finding out what went wrong and making changes. We were hoping to get the deputies a better leader."

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Stone has consistently refused to comment on the recall, citing lawsuits against his department. More than a dozen lawsuits claim that deputies were too slow to respond, that student Daniel Rohrbaugh was killed by a deputy's bullet and that teacher Dave Sanders was left to bleed to death.

Twelve students and Sanders were killed by Harris and Klebold before they killed themselves.

The Browns did not reveal how many people signed the petitions. Their statement said they would not provide county officials with the signatures they had gathered because they feared Stone would attempt retribution against recall supporters.

County elections rules required the number of signatures to equal 25 percent of the number of people who voted in the last sheriff's election, which the Browns said would have been 42,000 signatures. Stone was elected to a four-year term in November 1998.

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