I recieved this from a friend. It is from the parent of a student explaining some of the events that occured within the Littleton school. They are LDS (Mormon), but I decided not to edit the letter, mostly for time's sake. I'm not posting this here so that you may be critical of the religion, but so that you may better know some of the events that happened inside the school. This is coming from a parent of a student, not from the media, who have left a few thing out that this letter mentions.
If this is inappropriate to post here, please let me know, however, I felt it worth while.
One thing that particularly struck me is that the police had a visual ID of the two shooters through a yearbook that was in the LDS Seminary building, and they were identified within minutes of arriving on the scene.
Here it is:
-----
Good morning everyone. Thank you for your patience, your prayers and
your genuine concerns for all of us here. I cannot express adequately the
range of emotions, the breadth of experiences, everyone is feeling or having
here. Shortly, as I write a detailed report for the Brethren, I will e-mail a
copy to each of you. Our family is going to be fine. Our little Mike, like
16 or 17 others of our seminary students, "just decided" at the last minute
to be somewhere other than the Commons (beautiful cafeteria) or the library
on that day. Heavenly Father has been carrying these sweet students
throughout this ordeal. (Mike decided to come home for lunch rather than
meet his
buddies in the Commons, which, on Tuesdays, he often does.)
Christina was caught in the concert choir room with 120 other choir members.
Indeed, she was one of the last to get out. The gunmen were running down
the hallway by that room, but at the time she was leaving, the gunmen had
turned around and were firing down the hall backwards, so they didn't see
her. Some huge "chunk" of a kid literally ran over Christina and she went
sailing to the ground. (Today she's still a walking bruise.) Up she got,
continued running, and with her many friends of the choir, zigzagged
through parts of the building until they could find a way out. (Columbine
is an incredibly beautiful building, but very large. Few students know all
the exits or have ever been in all of the building.)
Once out, she and several others actually scaled an 8-foot chain link fence.
Once over the fence, she and the others kept running until they reached the
park that surrounds part of the campus. Another friend, who had parked his
car in the park instead of on campus that morning, herded Christina and
several others into his car and drove them to wherever they wanted to go.
She went to Pam's office nearby.
One of our Mormon 15-year-old boys was badly shot. He's the "nameless"
boy at St. Anthony's in critical condition. His leg was badly shot, but
rebuilt
that first night in six hours of surgery. A bullet entered his cheek,
destroyed his jaw, and came out his neck. On Wednesday, he endured nine
hours of surgery for that wound. As often is the case, this wonderful young
man, a member of my son's teacher's quorum, is the kindest of kids ... quiet,
humble and always smiling.
Three of our students were in the library, hiding under tables while their
friends were being selectively shot. One, a girl named Amber, was actually
under the table the gunmen used to reload their weapons, while laughing about
how much fun it was to kill and wondering aloud who they'd "nail next." Our
two others there, young men, both were confronted by the armed gunmen. One,
John, had a weapon pointed at his head. Both of our boys were known to the
gunmen, but only as nice guys, so they let them go, only to hoot others
there. These three are having the most challenging time now.
Dozens of our kids were in the Commons when shooting went off. They all
escaped. Dozens more of our students were hiding throughout the building,
many in rooms systematically sprayed with bullets and in places where they
could hear both the gunmen's terror-filled threats and the screams of their
wounded friends.
At the seminary, we housed 60 non-LDS students, 7 or 8 of our own students,
and 6 faculty members, including two coaches and two English teachers know to
our daughter. We were all here, together, for over four hours. We had SWAT
team members on our roof throughout the ordeal, police both inside and
outside our facility, and periodic visits by the police to question our kids
about the gunmen. Since we had a student year book, the kids at the seminary
made the identification of the gunmen known to the police in the first
minutes of this ordeal.
Many bombs, some quite large, exploded both in the school and throughout the
parking lots and even in the neighborhood nearby. Our backyard is adjacent
to the parking lot. During the night on Tuesday, two very heavy explosions
rocked our whole neighborhood as bombs with timers, hidden in student cars
just over the fence from our backyard, exploded. We were evacuated by 6:00
p.m., but not allowed to return home until Wednesday afternoon. Our
wonderful bishop, who lives three cul-de-sacs away, housed our family.
Braving gunfire and police barricades, our sweet bishop's wife brought lunch
to the seminary for everyone. She first went to all her neighbors to collect
all she could.
The Church sent a large team of counselors in from all over Colorado and from
Salt Lake City. That Tuesday night our stake president held a prayer meeting
at our nearby stake center, attended by over 500 students and their parents.
We were there for nearly two hours, although the "meeting" lasted less than
20 minutes. Extensive counseling is available through next week at the stake
center. We, ourselves, are starting seminary Monday at the stake center,
9:00-10:00 a.m. daily, until we know what the school district is going to do.
Help and aid for these (and all the students) is pouring in from all over
the US
I will have to write to you separately about the incredible miracles
occurring here hourly for everyone. I felt impressed to call my friend, John
Bytheway, a very popular youth speak, who, upon getting my call, simply said,
"Rob, when do you want me there?" He'll be here in two weeks for a couple
days to meet the kids individually and to present a fireside talk.
The greatest moment came Wednesday morning when President Hinckley called.
He had received a list of all my students' names and wanted us to tell the
students that he was praying for each of them individually by name. I cannot
even type those words without the tears returning. Our Moses, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Enoch, our modern-day Joseph Smith, our dear prophet is doing
that as the ultimate way of helping in this terrible situation.
As I asked scores of kids what they were doing in their various places of
hiding, most all responded "praying." "What were you praying for," I asked.
About eight of the students, independent of one another said, "Brother
H., I was praying to Heavenly Father to ask Him to please let me realize all
the blessings in my patriarchal blessing."
These are not ordinary young men and women. "Royal Army" only begins to
define their spirits. We have a long and uncharted road ahead emotionally.
Each day is literally taken now one at a time. The worse part of the day,
dear family and friends, is the wake-up moment. From some sleep and peace
comes this horrible rush as everything returns again -- the emotions, the
fears, the restlessness. I'm a veteran of service in Southeast Asia during
the Vietnam War and this is what happens to me each morning. My 100 students
are sweet children yet are experiencing in a worse way these same feelings.
Their childhood has been stolen from them now. Hardest hit have been those
students who have crafted a teen life which they totally control.
Enter this tragedy that has shaken to the core their comfort zone. They
simply cannot begin yet to piece anything together.
Eight-percent of our students saw and/or heard the work of those student
gunmen. Now that bodies have been identified and removed, a new wave has hit
our students and family. These were popular kids who were killed. Christina
lost two good friends. Mike lost one. Some of our students lost as many as
five good friends. Their funerals begin Saturday and continue through next
week. At his point, everything these sweet children are experiencing reminds
me of when we were all little kids, took that terrible fall from the
three-wheeled bicycle, scraped open a knee which mom bandaged and "kissed to
make better." As it healed, it itched and even hurt, so we kept scratched
the wound open until, weeks later, it was infected and painful. This seems
to be happening here. What looks like a better day than yesterday ends as
tragic as the previous with new information, the upcoming funerals, etc.
Mr. Sanders, who bled to death in the school, was such a wonderful man. He'd
reached that desirable state as an educator when he quit playing all the
games -- quit "playing school" with all those silly rules less mature
teachers impose -- and was instead, relaxed and loving, a friend to all the
students. Every single seminary student knew him, many quite well...
------------------
John/az
"Just because something is popular, does not make it right."
www.countdown9199.com
If this is inappropriate to post here, please let me know, however, I felt it worth while.
One thing that particularly struck me is that the police had a visual ID of the two shooters through a yearbook that was in the LDS Seminary building, and they were identified within minutes of arriving on the scene.
Here it is:
-----
Good morning everyone. Thank you for your patience, your prayers and
your genuine concerns for all of us here. I cannot express adequately the
range of emotions, the breadth of experiences, everyone is feeling or having
here. Shortly, as I write a detailed report for the Brethren, I will e-mail a
copy to each of you. Our family is going to be fine. Our little Mike, like
16 or 17 others of our seminary students, "just decided" at the last minute
to be somewhere other than the Commons (beautiful cafeteria) or the library
on that day. Heavenly Father has been carrying these sweet students
throughout this ordeal. (Mike decided to come home for lunch rather than
meet his
buddies in the Commons, which, on Tuesdays, he often does.)
Christina was caught in the concert choir room with 120 other choir members.
Indeed, she was one of the last to get out. The gunmen were running down
the hallway by that room, but at the time she was leaving, the gunmen had
turned around and were firing down the hall backwards, so they didn't see
her. Some huge "chunk" of a kid literally ran over Christina and she went
sailing to the ground. (Today she's still a walking bruise.) Up she got,
continued running, and with her many friends of the choir, zigzagged
through parts of the building until they could find a way out. (Columbine
is an incredibly beautiful building, but very large. Few students know all
the exits or have ever been in all of the building.)
Once out, she and several others actually scaled an 8-foot chain link fence.
Once over the fence, she and the others kept running until they reached the
park that surrounds part of the campus. Another friend, who had parked his
car in the park instead of on campus that morning, herded Christina and
several others into his car and drove them to wherever they wanted to go.
She went to Pam's office nearby.
One of our Mormon 15-year-old boys was badly shot. He's the "nameless"
boy at St. Anthony's in critical condition. His leg was badly shot, but
rebuilt
that first night in six hours of surgery. A bullet entered his cheek,
destroyed his jaw, and came out his neck. On Wednesday, he endured nine
hours of surgery for that wound. As often is the case, this wonderful young
man, a member of my son's teacher's quorum, is the kindest of kids ... quiet,
humble and always smiling.
Three of our students were in the library, hiding under tables while their
friends were being selectively shot. One, a girl named Amber, was actually
under the table the gunmen used to reload their weapons, while laughing about
how much fun it was to kill and wondering aloud who they'd "nail next." Our
two others there, young men, both were confronted by the armed gunmen. One,
John, had a weapon pointed at his head. Both of our boys were known to the
gunmen, but only as nice guys, so they let them go, only to hoot others
there. These three are having the most challenging time now.
Dozens of our kids were in the Commons when shooting went off. They all
escaped. Dozens more of our students were hiding throughout the building,
many in rooms systematically sprayed with bullets and in places where they
could hear both the gunmen's terror-filled threats and the screams of their
wounded friends.
At the seminary, we housed 60 non-LDS students, 7 or 8 of our own students,
and 6 faculty members, including two coaches and two English teachers know to
our daughter. We were all here, together, for over four hours. We had SWAT
team members on our roof throughout the ordeal, police both inside and
outside our facility, and periodic visits by the police to question our kids
about the gunmen. Since we had a student year book, the kids at the seminary
made the identification of the gunmen known to the police in the first
minutes of this ordeal.
Many bombs, some quite large, exploded both in the school and throughout the
parking lots and even in the neighborhood nearby. Our backyard is adjacent
to the parking lot. During the night on Tuesday, two very heavy explosions
rocked our whole neighborhood as bombs with timers, hidden in student cars
just over the fence from our backyard, exploded. We were evacuated by 6:00
p.m., but not allowed to return home until Wednesday afternoon. Our
wonderful bishop, who lives three cul-de-sacs away, housed our family.
Braving gunfire and police barricades, our sweet bishop's wife brought lunch
to the seminary for everyone. She first went to all her neighbors to collect
all she could.
The Church sent a large team of counselors in from all over Colorado and from
Salt Lake City. That Tuesday night our stake president held a prayer meeting
at our nearby stake center, attended by over 500 students and their parents.
We were there for nearly two hours, although the "meeting" lasted less than
20 minutes. Extensive counseling is available through next week at the stake
center. We, ourselves, are starting seminary Monday at the stake center,
9:00-10:00 a.m. daily, until we know what the school district is going to do.
Help and aid for these (and all the students) is pouring in from all over
the US
I will have to write to you separately about the incredible miracles
occurring here hourly for everyone. I felt impressed to call my friend, John
Bytheway, a very popular youth speak, who, upon getting my call, simply said,
"Rob, when do you want me there?" He'll be here in two weeks for a couple
days to meet the kids individually and to present a fireside talk.
The greatest moment came Wednesday morning when President Hinckley called.
He had received a list of all my students' names and wanted us to tell the
students that he was praying for each of them individually by name. I cannot
even type those words without the tears returning. Our Moses, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Enoch, our modern-day Joseph Smith, our dear prophet is doing
that as the ultimate way of helping in this terrible situation.
As I asked scores of kids what they were doing in their various places of
hiding, most all responded "praying." "What were you praying for," I asked.
About eight of the students, independent of one another said, "Brother
H., I was praying to Heavenly Father to ask Him to please let me realize all
the blessings in my patriarchal blessing."
These are not ordinary young men and women. "Royal Army" only begins to
define their spirits. We have a long and uncharted road ahead emotionally.
Each day is literally taken now one at a time. The worse part of the day,
dear family and friends, is the wake-up moment. From some sleep and peace
comes this horrible rush as everything returns again -- the emotions, the
fears, the restlessness. I'm a veteran of service in Southeast Asia during
the Vietnam War and this is what happens to me each morning. My 100 students
are sweet children yet are experiencing in a worse way these same feelings.
Their childhood has been stolen from them now. Hardest hit have been those
students who have crafted a teen life which they totally control.
Enter this tragedy that has shaken to the core their comfort zone. They
simply cannot begin yet to piece anything together.
Eight-percent of our students saw and/or heard the work of those student
gunmen. Now that bodies have been identified and removed, a new wave has hit
our students and family. These were popular kids who were killed. Christina
lost two good friends. Mike lost one. Some of our students lost as many as
five good friends. Their funerals begin Saturday and continue through next
week. At his point, everything these sweet children are experiencing reminds
me of when we were all little kids, took that terrible fall from the
three-wheeled bicycle, scraped open a knee which mom bandaged and "kissed to
make better." As it healed, it itched and even hurt, so we kept scratched
the wound open until, weeks later, it was infected and painful. This seems
to be happening here. What looks like a better day than yesterday ends as
tragic as the previous with new information, the upcoming funerals, etc.
Mr. Sanders, who bled to death in the school, was such a wonderful man. He'd
reached that desirable state as an educator when he quit playing all the
games -- quit "playing school" with all those silly rules less mature
teachers impose -- and was instead, relaxed and loving, a friend to all the
students. Every single seminary student knew him, many quite well...
------------------
John/az
"Just because something is popular, does not make it right."
www.countdown9199.com