20 Hurt in Colorado H.S. Shooting
This is happening right now in my neighborhood. Thought some of you would be interested.
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — Two young men dressed in long, black trench coats opened fire in a suburban high school today, scattering students as gunshots ricocheted off lockers. At least 20 people were wounded and other injured people were stranded for hours in the building.
Explosions also were heard inside Columbine High School.
Nearly two hours after the 11:30 a.m. shooting, SWAT team members entered the building and 15 to 20 students fled. The frightened students ran out with their hands in the air and were frisked by police.
There was no confirmation that the gunmen were still inside, but police said some students had been hiding in a choir room. SWAT team members searching the building were able to see some wounded students but couldn't reach them because the area wasn't secure, said Steve Davis, spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
Student witness comments on what he saw (Courtesy: KUSA)
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''We believe there are a few more victims,'' Davis said. ''We're hearing from deputies who can see from their vantage points more victims.''
He said police were looking for two suspects, but ''where in the building is unknown.'' Davis said fire trucks and armored cars were being brought in to get to the victims.
''I hope the American people will be praying for the students, parents and teachers,'' President Clinton said this afternoon.
Television images, broadcast nationwide, showed police cars and ambulances at a staging area near the school, and helmeted officers in camouflage gear. At midafternoon, a bloodied young man dangled from a second-floor window, his right arm limp, and was helped down by two SWAT team members. His condition was not immediately known.
Shortly after the school was stormed, three youths wearing black — but not trench coats — were stopped by police in a field near the school. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation told KUSA-TV the three were friends of the gunmen who were being taken in for questioning.
Some witnesses said there were two gunmen and the shootings took place around the school, including the cafeteria and library.
''We heard the gunshots and we were running,'' said Kaley Boyle, a junior at Columbine.
''They walked down the stairs and they started shooting people,'' said a student who gave her name as Janine. ''We didn't think it was real and then we saw blood.'' Her voice broke with anguish as she spoke.
Janine, a student at Columbine High School, says there were multiple shooting victims
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She said it was two young men, wearing black trench coats.
''They were shooting people and throwing grenades and stuff. ... Me and my friends got to my car and drove off. ... We saw three people get shot. They were just shooting. Then something blew up.''
Bob Sapin, another student, also said the gunmen were all in black, in trench coats and masks.
''I hid behind the school in the bushes and I saw them. When they started walking down the hallway, I ran and I ran and I hid in the bushes,'' he said.
The scene outside Columbine High school
AP/KUSA [31K]
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Eight to 10 students in the school wear black trench coats every day, students said. Josh Nielsen said they are known as the ''Trench Coat Mafia.'' Said another classmate, Jason Greer, ''They are jerks. They are really strange, but I've never seen them do anything violent.''
At the adjacent Clement Park, students were shaking and crying as parents wandered about, looking for their children. Police helicopters whirled overhead and hundreds of police officers patrolled in the area of the school and park.
At least 19 people were taken to hospitals, including a girl who suffered nine gunshot wounds to the chest. Kari Mackecher, spokesman for HealthOne, which runs Swedish, said four students were taken there, all in serious condition but conscious, and a fifth was en route.
In addition to the girl with nine gunshot wounds, a second girl had a wound to the chest, a boy had a wound in the back, and another youth had three gunshot wounds in the chest and arms. A fifth person was en route, but there was no information available.
Five other hospitals reported getting 14 people, at least one of them in critical condition. The 20th injured person was the young man taken out of the school at midafternoon.
Denver and Littleton police, and Jefferson County and Arapahoe sheriff's deputies were helping on the scene.
Columbine High is in the middle-class suburb of Littleton, population 35,000, southwest of Denver. It opened in 1973 and has an enrollment of about 1,800. Nearby schools were put on a lockdown status, with students prohibited from entering or leaving.
A series of school shootings since 1997 shocked the nation and led to calls for tighter security and closer monitoring of troubled students. Two were killed at a school in Pearl, Miss., three at West Paducah, Ky., five at Jonesboro, Ark., and two at a school in Springfield, Ore.
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