A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On April 20, 1999, two students shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher and injured 23 others before taking their own lives at Columbine High School, near Denver, Colorado.
At that time, it was the worst school shooting in U.S. history.
Many in the West watched the events unfold on television, and many still have the image of young students streaming out of the Littleton, Colorado, school burned in their minds. The Deseret News also reported on the tragedy then, and since then on how victims and families have worked to put their lives back together.
Per Associated Press reports, the victims included a girl who wrote to God in her diaries, a boy with learning disabilities who was just learning to like who he was and a teen who would spend every free minute fishing.
During a vigil a year ago on the 25th anniversary of the shooting, small candles flickered on 13 empty chairs, short biographies of Columbine students Rachel Scott, Kyle Velasquez and Corey DePooter and the other victims were read one by one. After each, the crowd of about 150 people replied together “never forgotten” and a bell tolled.
The youngest killed in the attack that has inspired dozens of copycat shootings was Steven Curnow, 14. The oldest was teacher Dave Sanders, 47, who shepherded students out of the cafeteria to safety and was shot as he tried to get students upstairs into classrooms.
The incident, and others like it, have been hard to fathom, hard to report on, hard to learn from, and sadly, hard to stop from happening.
Still, it is inspiring to read of the survivors — now in their 30s and 40s, what they have overcome, and what has sustained them.
Here are stories from Deseret News archives about the Columbine shooting and what we have learned:
“Year later, Columbine still hurts”
“Columbine survivor in Utah offers messages of hope to Newtown community”
“Columbine survivors tell tale of hope”
“10 years later, Columbine remembers”
“Columbine parents praise essay by mom of shooter”
“Utah students rally for gun reform on anniversary of Columbine shooting”
“Book: Columbine shooters mentally ill, not bullied”
“After the shootings: How trauma changes people”
