SIGHTINGS



Two Columbine High School Sweethearts Murdered
By Maureen Harrington
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000214/ts/crime_columbine_7.html
2-16-2000

 
LITTLETON, Colo. (Reuters) - Two Columbine High School sweethearts were found shot to death early on Monday -- Valentine's Day -- at a popular sandwich shop just two blocks from the school, the scene of a 1999 massacre in which 15 people were killed.
 
A police spokesman said the two, a boy, 15, and a girl, 16, attended Columbine High in the Denver suburb of Littleton. Their bodies were discovered in a Subway sandwich shop just two blocks from the school. The shop is a popular hangout for students, other teenagers and skateboarders.
 
Columbine was the scene of the worst high school shooting in U.S. history last April 20 when two teenage gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives.
 
Grief counselors visited classes at the school on Monday to help students shaken by the news of yet another act of violence close to home.
 
The teenagers found dead behind the counter of the Subway shop were identified by friends as Stephanie Hart and Nicholas Kunselman, who were dating each other.
 
J.J. Hodask, who worked with Kunselman at the shop, said the boy had the task of closing the store alone on Sunday night. He had worked there for a month.
 
``No one can believe this is happening again. It just never quits here,'' said Hodask, who graduated from Columbine High in 1996 and has worked at the sandwich shop for 16 months.
 
``He was a good kid and a good worker,'' Hodask added.
 
Jefferson County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Davis said police were searching for a white male in his early 20s wearing a red jacket and flared pants who was seen leaving the sandwich shop. ``It is unknown whether he is a suspect or someone who may have information for us,'' Davis said.
 
He said there was no sign of a motive for the killings but added that police were so busy examining the murder scene that they had not ``even gotten to the cash register'' or checked the video surveillance tape.
 
The bodies were found at 12:45 a.m. Mountain Time (2:45 a.m. EST/0745 GMT) by a Subway employee who noticed that all the lights in the store were still blazing even though it should have closed hours earlier at 10 p.m.
 
Davis said police had not been able to enter the sandwich shop to investigate the crime until 7 a.m. because they did not have the necessary search warrant. He did not explain why a warrant was necessary in such a situation.
 
Police said the crime was being investigated as a double murder and not a murder-suicide. While there was no immediate motive, police said they were probing the possibility that robbery was involved. One of the teens worked at the shop.
 
Davis said how many times the two were shot and where they were shot would be ``an investigative key.''
 
Courtney Scott, who brought flowers and a balloon to the crime scene, said the dead girl was her cousin Stephanie. She said the boy Nicholas worked at the sandwich shop part-time.
 
``Nicholas and Stephanie were boyfriend and girlfriend. They were dating, going out together,'' Scott said.
 
The grim discovery on Valentine's Day shocked Columbine students. One group came to the parking lot of the sandwich shop and wrote on the asphalt in blue chalk, ``For God so loved the world he gave his only son so that we shall not perish but have eternal life.'' (John 3:16).
 
Using pink chalk, they wrote ``God is love.'' The students also drew a circle around the word ``hate'' and put a slash through it.
 
One teenager from the area, Asley Cagle, 17, said of the store, ``This is where we all hang out. We always drive by to see who is chilling. This scares us. We are worried that someone is out there that did this.''


 
SIGHTINGS HOMEPAGE

This Site Served by TheHostPros