Waterloo Courier (Newspaper) - April 21, 1999, Waterloo, Iowa for thought New improved kitchen appliances add style and function Inside 216 beats the record but still hasn't been entered the books Metro track championship Cedar Falls wins 10 of 19 events to hold on to title Low upper 40s High 55 THURSDAY'S FORECAST Rain likely Complete weather on Dl WATERLOO FALLS WEDNESDAY APRIL 50 cents 48 pages 5 sections Courier Online Colorado school rampage kills 15 First a bang then bodies began falling LITTLETON Colo AP A kid in a while shirt heaved something up onto the high school roof and it exploded in billowing smoke more Don Arnold thought it was just a lunchtime prank a firecracker maybe Then students started falling One boy was running and suddenly his ankle just puffed up in said the Arnold A girl was running and her head popped open when a bullet slammed into her skull They were the first to be shot in Tuesday's bloody attack at Columbine High School outside Denver Arnold's girlfriend Lindsay ton 15 was inside the school ing for a biology test when she heard shots and explosions It's a good day to she said someone yelled at one point We want everyone to She and 30 other biology students up in science room with their teacher for four hours while unspeakable tragedy unfolded outside The attack ended only when two suspects who had stalked through hallways spraying bullets apparently killed themselves in the school library See SCENE page A7 Killers laughed while shooting classmates AP PHOTO A woman embraces her daughter after they were reunited following a shooting rampage at Columbine High School In Littleton Colo At least 15 students and faculty members died when two classmates roamed through the school firing guns and tossing explosives before killing themselves Eric Harris Dylan Klebold Trench Coat Mafia a gang of misfits They called themselves the Trench Coat a dozen outcast students who opposed blacks Hispanics and athletes and dressed up in long black dusters like villains of the Old West They played World War 11 games bragged about their guns and razzed fellow teens about kowtowing to the elite students But few took them seriously until Tuesday Details A5 Local residents shocked by shootings Many in metro area have ties to the Colorado city where killing took place By Courier Staff It occurred about 800 miles away but the shocking effect of a shooting rampage at a Colorado school hits close to home Across the metro area today the reaction to Tuesday's rampage at a Littleton Colo high school is being felt from a grandmother whose granddaughter was in Columbine High School Tuesday to high school students and administrators who are stunned by what happened Zola of Elk Run Heights enjoys the frequent calls she receives from her daughter in Colorado But Tuesday's call was unlike any other she's ever received Belden's daughter Chris Cleghorn a 1977 graduate of East High School called to tell her that Sara Belden's granddaughter had run for her life Tuesday Sara a junior at Columbine High School was in the school when the killing spree began Chris called to tell me that there was a shooting at Sara's school but that Sara had gotten away and was all said Belden this morning I thank God that she is OK She is so lucky Sara couldn't have been luckier She was scheduled to have class in the library where many students were killed She is usually in the library at that time every said Belden But she and a girlfriend stopped in a restroom They were just a minute away from being in the library when the shooting started Belden said Sara and her girlfriend grabbed hands and began running when bullets were heard ricocheting off lockers near the library They joined a panicked mob of students who ran to the nearest exit The dents fled outside and ran to nearby homes where they pounded on the doors to find safety Sara remained at the house for two hours before she was allowed to go with her mother I thank God for those people who opened their doors to these said Belden Sara was not injured but a girl in her group was hit in the leg by cither a bullet or shrapnel from one of the bombs planted around the building It was like watching something from another said Belden of the TV coverage We have seen it before and it is so horrifying when someone you love is involved Sara is OK but some of her friends were killed in the library She has had class with them every day and now they are gone It will lake a long time for her to deal with this It is so matic Running for your life is See REACTION page A7 Special Carnage in Colorado GEORGE MOUNTAIN NEWS Columbine High School students react at a triage scene near the school after two gunmen opened fire inside Special graphic gives account of the horror Page A7 More pictures from Columbine High School shooting scene Page C8 LITTLETON Colo AP ried about bombs and booby traps specially trained officers ly checked thousands of lockers and castoff backpacks today in a suburban high school where 15 people were killed in the deadliest U.S school rampage on record Victims bodies were left in the school overnight as agonized parents braced for the worst Students streamed into Clement Park next to the school early today to leave ers and share their feelings about the shootings It helps to talk about said don Reisbeck a senior who bolted from his choir class to safety after he heard gunshots The investigation was delayed by the thorough police sweep of the school which was prompted by the discovery of bombs in the parking lot and on the bodies of the suspected gunmen Some of these devices are on ing devices some are incendiary devices and some are pipe Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone told ABC's Good Morning ca Some are like hand grenades that have got shrapnel in them wrapped around butane containers On Tuesday two in black trench coats laughed and ed as they opened fire on classmates at Columbine High School killing at least 16 people including After the siege ended police that as many as 25 people may been killed Early this morning they revised the death loll to at least based on a count of bodies i Today students struggled to stand the rampage j Crystal Woodman a junior who was in the library when the gunmen burst in said this morning she can't get their voices out of her head i They were just like they thought it was Woodman told Good Morning America They were just like Who's Who's ready to They were just like We've waited to do this our whole lives And every time they'd shoot one they'd holler like it was like exciting Most of the bodies were found in the library The attackers marched in with guns and pipe bombs ing that all jocks stand up We're going to kill every one of dent Aaron Conn said A gunman looked under a desk in See SHOOTINGS page A7 Legislature refuses to write into Iowa law Seven Republicans join Democrats strip of controversial language By ERIC STERN Courier Staff Writer DESMOINES In a vole rarely seen al the partisan Iowa Capitol a handful of Republican lawmakers in the House sided will Democrats Tuesday to kill a controversial proposal to make English he state's official language Led by Rep loo Democrats successfully jumped over several procedural hurdles to wipe out the com- ponent of the leaving only a widely praised provision to set up an program Democrats who labeled the portion of the as racist were joined by seven cial Republican votes including those of Rep Willard Jenkins and House Majority er Brent Siegrist Bluffs It does remove the hand with the accusing finger from the face of our new said Dotzler adding the now becomes an open coming hand Even though Republicans hold a majority in the chamber they couldn't muster the votes to stop See ENGLISH page A5 NATO missiles slam into Serb party's offices Milosevic's nerve center set ablaze by allied jets BELGRADE Yugoslavia AP NATO missiles slammed into a grade high-rise today that Western officials termed a nerve center of Slobodan Milosevic's ruling machine setting floors in a hold attack on the offices of Yugoslavia's line governing party The United States meanwhile rushed more troops and equipment into Albania as border clashes raised fears of an expanding Balkan war About 24 Apache copters intended to improve NATO's ability to strike Yugoslav ground forces in Kosovo left Italy today for Albania Amid concerns the conflict may spread the president of Montenegro Yugoslavia's smaller pro-Western republic was reported today to have rejected demands by Yugoslav army that he put his republic's police force under Belgrade control Along other tense borders Croatia charged that Yugoslavia had moved up to 300 troops into a trolled demilitarized between Croatia and Montenegro and Yugoslav forces wounded an an soldier in a firefight along that southern border Macedonia President Kiro warned thai the influx of Kosovo Albanian refugees and the presence of thousands of NATO troops was destabilizing his country like Croatia a former AP PHOTO See KOSOVO page A5 Firefighters battle the high-rise Maze ignited by allied bombs INDEX Bridge a D7 Cipher a D6 Comics Oa I Daily Record a B2 I Iowa Horoscopes m D6 Lifestyles Markets a C7 I a A2 I Opinion n A6 I Theaters M B7 Metro B I Obituaries B2 I Sports m TV a D2
