LITTLETON, Colo. – Some relatives of the Columbine HS victims expressed annoyance at yesterday’s brief, low-key memorial marking the second anniversary of the massacre.
“There were no prayers. Nobody from the school. None of us were asked to speak,” said Lee Jorgensen, grandfather of Cassie Bernall, a 17-year-old gunned down in the school library.
“The school officials and the sheriff’s department want to put this behind them. But the families don’t. How can we?”
Board of Education President John de Stefano defended the 15-minute memorial, in which the crowd of 250 observed moments of silence as he read the name of each of the 13 victims.
“We decided to keep it short, and we decided this with the families,” he said.
Jasmine Jorgensen, Cassie’s grandmother, said townspeople were beginning to forget about the horrible day when students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stormed the school and scattered gunfire.
“All I know is when the first memorial was held [days after the shooting], there were 70,000 people, and everybody was praying,” Jasmine Jorgensen said.
“It felt a lot better than this does.”
Before the ceremony, relatives of victims visited cemeteries, then left roses at the site of the shooting in the school.
Linda Sanders, whose husband, Dave, was the one teacher slain, said of the memorial, “I, for one, wanted it short and sweet. I said my prayers at the cemetery this morning.”
Beth Nimmo, whose daughter Rachel Scott was among those killed, said the massacre was not something relatives can easily put behind them.
The anniversary came a day after the victims’ families agreed to a $2.5 million total settlement of their lawsuits against Harris and Klebold’s parents and the providers of their guns.