Columbine Probe; Columbine fatality will get outside investigation

December 28, 2001 Posted: 08:47:00 PM PST By NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press DENVER (AP) - Dogged by allegations of a cover-up, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department has asked for an outside investigation into claims that a police officer killed a student during the Columbine High School shootings. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office will conduct the review because it had no deputies involved in the April 20, 1999, shootings, Jefferson County sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Tallman said. Brian Rohrbough, whose son Daniel was slain at the Littleton, Colo.-school, said new testimony suggests former SWAT team member Sgt. Dan O'Shea killed his 15-year-old son. O'Shea said he arrived at Columbine after Rohrbough was shot. "I did not kill anybody at Columbine and I, like everyone else there, gave my best and I'm deeply hurt by these allegations," O'Shea told KUSA-TV. Investigators will check reports from two other officers that may indicate O'Shea was on the scene before Rohrbough was killed and may have fired shots in the teen's direction. Rohrbough and the families of four other Columbine victims made the allegation against O'Shea in a motion filed in federal court Wednesday. They are trying to revive lawsuits alleging the sheriff's Office and school officials botched their response to the massacre. The motion cites an affidavit from a school administrator who said O'Shea broke down and cried two days after the shooting as he told her he feared he may have shot Rohrbough. Since the shootings, Rohrbough and others have alleged the sheriff's office tried to cover up its mishandling of the tragedy, which left 15 people dead and about two dozen wounded. The Jefferson County D By NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press DENVER (AP) - Dogged by allegations of a cover-up, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department has asked for an outside investigation into claims that a police officer killed a student during the Columbine High School shootings. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office will conduct the review because it had no deputies involved in the April 20, 1999, shootings, Jefferson County sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Tallman said. Brian Rohrbough, whose son Daniel was slain at the Littleton, Colo.-school, said new testimony suggests former SWAT team member Sgt. Dan O'Shea killed his 15-year-old son. O'Shea said he arrived at Columbine after Rohrbough was shot. "I did not kill anybody at Columbine and I, like everyone else there, gave my best and I'm deeply hurt by these allegations," O'Shea told KUSA-TV. Investigators will check reports from two other officers that may indicate O'Shea was on the scene before Rohrbough was killed and may have fired shots in the teen's direction. Rohrbough and the families of four other Columbine victims made the allegation against O'Shea in a motion filed in federal court Wednesday. They are trying to revive lawsuits alleging the sheriff's Office and school officials botched their response to the massacre. The motion cites an affidavit from a school administrator who said O'Shea broke down and cried two days after the shooting as he told her he feared he may have shot Rohrbough. Since the shootings, Rohrbough and others have alleged the sheriff's office tried to cover up its mishandling of the tragedy, which left 15 people dead and about two dozen wounded. The Jefferson County District Attorney concluded no students were shot by police. In November, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock dismissed all but one of nine lawsuits brought against authorities over Columbine. He said officials had responded reasonably to a rapidly evolving violent situation and were protected from lawsuits under state governmental immunity laws.

Columbine probe

El Paso County sheriff will lead review at request of Jeffco's Stone

By Kevin Vaughan, News Staff Writer

Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone on Friday sought an independent review of new allegations that a Denver police officer fired the bullet that killed a Columbine High student.

El Paso County Sheriff John Anderson agreed to Stone's request.

"They are still working out the scope of it," said El Paso County sheriff's Lt. Melissa Hartman.

It wasn't clear whether Anderson would have the power to conduct new interviews or order new laboratory tests.

Jefferson County sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Tallman said Anderson could decide what needed to be done.

This is the first time the sheriff's department has asked an agency not involved in the case to investigate any aspect of the April 1999 shootings. El Paso was selected because it's a large department with ample resources.

The parents of Daniel Rohrbough, a 15-year-old Columbine student who was shot outside the school, alleged in a lawsuit filed in 2000 that a bullet from a law officer -- not from murderers Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold -- caused their son's fatal wound.

But it wasn't until Wednesday that Rohrbough's parents, in appealing a federal judge's decision to dismiss their suit, named Denver police Sgt. Dan O'Shea as the officer they believe fired the shot.

O'Shea has not returned messages left by the Rocky Mountain News. However, 9 News reported Friday night that he denied he shot Rohrbough.

Rohrbough's family introduced a sworn statement from a woman who said that she spoke with O'Shea two days after the Columbine tragedy and that he was emotionally devastated and told her that he feared he had shot a student in the confusion.

As supporting evidence, the family said in court papers that two law officers had provided them with information that contradicts the official version of events. One, identified as Arapahoe County sheriff's Deputy Jim Taylor, told the family that he heard submachine gun fire and then saw a boy, later identified as Daniel Rohrbough, shot as he was running. Taylor is out of town and could not be reached for comment. A second officer, identified in court papers as Jefferson County sheriff's Deputy Annette Walker, told Rohrbough's mother she saw the boy holding a door open for escaping students. If true, that would undermine the contention of the sheriff's office that Rohrbough was gunned down in the first few flurries of gunfire from Harris and Klebold. Walker could not be reached for comment. "Those are serious allegations," Tallman said. "I know that in an effort to avoid any controversy, Sheriff Stone thought this would be the best way to handle this." Brian Rohrbough, the father of the slain student and a persistent critic of Stone's, said he would reserve judgment on Anderson's review. "This is just one more self-serving attempt of John Stone's to say he did everything right," Rohrbough said. "The fact that they are only going to look at the stuff around Daniel, and not look in the library . . . indicates they are certainly not looking for the truth." The only way to get at the truth, he said, is to question witnesses under oath. "If they look at the evidence I have available right now, they will not be able to come to any other conclusion than O'Shea having shot and killed my son. This should be released publicly." Rohrbough and other Columbine families have waged a long, public battle with Stone's office over key issues in the case and the release of documents and evidence. They also have pointed to the official sheriff's report and raised questions about some of the assertions there. For example, the official report, issued in May 2000, said that Rohrbough was one of the first few students injured, and that Klebold then "goes back down the stairs to the area outside the cafeteria and shoots Daniel Rohrbough again at close range." However, earlier this year, the families obtained numerous documents about the ballistics evidence. The documents stated that the only bullet found in Rohrbough's body was "consistent" with a gun that Harris -- not Klebold -- carried. And the bullet that caused the fatal wound had passed through his body and was not identified. Contact Kevin Vaughan at (303) 892-5019 or vaughank@RockyMountainNews.com.

The Columbine Shootings - Free Republic Threads

Columbine

Columbine father says officer killed son

COP KILLED COLUMBINE STUDENT: SUIT

Family Claims SWAT Killed Student

Family says officer killed Columbine student

Family Says Officer Shot Columbine Student

"Under the USA PATRIOT Act in this country, Section 802 defines domestic terrorism as engaging in "activity that involves acts dangerous to human life that violate the laws of the United States or any state and appear to be intended: (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.