Los Angeles Times: Family Claims SWAT Killed Student

[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-columbine-police-officer1227dec27.story?coll=la%2Dap%2Dtopnews%2Dheadlines[/url]

Family Claims SWAT Killed Student
By Associated Press

December 27 2001, 5:44 AM PST

DENVER -- The family of slain Columbine student Daniel Rohrbough claims a Denver
police officer killed the boy as he fled the massacre inside the school.

A motion filed Wednesday in federal court said Sgt. Dan O'Shea, a member of the
SWAT team during the April 20, 1999, shootings, was identified through testimony
by a school administrator, Celine Marquez, who said O'Shea told her two days
after the shooting that he feared he may have shot an innocent student.

The motion asks a judge to reconsider the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against
the Jefferson County school district and sheriff's office.

Brian Rohrbough has long claimed his son was shot by a lawman rather than by one
of the student gunmen firing from inside the school because of the angle of his
fatal chest wound. In all, 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School
in Littleton, a Denver suburb, were killed before attackers Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold killed themselves.

According to the motion, O'Shea's handwritten police report stated he shot a 9
mm machine gun from the base of a hill on which Rohrbough was shot and killed.
Rohrbough's wounds were consistent with the student facing downhill and O'Shea
firing from below, the motion said.

The court papers said Marquez was visiting Westridge Elementary School on April
22, 1999, when she encountered O'Shea, whose daughter attended preschool at
Westridge.

According to the motion, Marquez thanked O'Shea for responding to the attack at
Columbine. O'Shea broke down crying, saying he had thought he might have
mistakenly shot an innocent student, the motion said. He told her he was
relieved to learn that ballistics tests showed none of the victims had been
struck by police bullets, it said.

Lawyer Barry Arrington, who represents the Rohrboughs, said Wednesday that in
fact, ballistics tests on the bullets had not been started when O'Shea spoke to
Marquez. "Someone told Sgt. O'Shea a grievous lie," he said.

O'Shea could not be reached for comment Wednesday, the Rocky Mountain News and
The Denver Post reported. Denver Deputy Police Chief Dave Abrams said Wednesday
that he was unaware of the accusation against O'Shea.

"I think it's unlikely," he said. "I would seriously doubt it."

The motion also accuses Sheriff John Stone and his department of making 29
"blatant, bald-faced lies" about the investigation, including initially
identifying a bullet recovered from Rohrbough's body as one from Klebold's
weapon.

Brian Rohrbough said he didn't know about Marquez's story until a few days
before a federal judge dismissed all but one of the Columbine wrongful-death
suits last month. After the ruling, he asked Marquez if she would give a
statement.

Marquez said she frequently told the story of her meeting with O'Shea, and "I
felt I was relaying a hero's story."

According to the motion, sheriff's deputy Jim Taylor said that a Denver police
officer was near him in the lower student parking lot during the massacre and
that he remembers hearing machine gun fire and seeing a boy, later identified as
Daniel Rohrbough, get shot.

Copyright 2001 Associated Press

Minor collateral damage and a very small price to pay for protection from criminals. Rohrbough should be honored that his son was neutralized by a hero instead of being murdered by one of those 2 criminals, klebold or harris.

I believe the full autopsy reports are still being held under wraps by the court.  I still don't understand the reason the families are blocking the release. I think that most of the fatalies was attributed to the sawed off shotgun, rather than the their 9mm gun.

Wish them luck, I really do.

Anyone ever tell you you're a clown? [:o)]

You mean besides womenz?

I have to agree with raf on this.

Besides, if you read the article, you would see that the current "official story" denying that he shot the boy isn't doing him any good.  He was looking down the sights, he KNOWS what he did.  And he also knows that the coverup isnt to protect him, but to protect the department from lawsuits and to protect the careers of his superior officers. It clearly is not doing him much good having to live with this over his head.

I have to concur with raf and ArmdLbrl for all of the above reasons stated. If a few eggs are broken in the process of digging through cover up of the event so far, then so be it. After all, an innocent kid apparently died for no reason, and his death was completely preventable. The truth should be known to help prevent any future occurances such as this.

If it were your son wouldn't you want to know what really happened that day?

DarkHelmet:

Where were those picturees on your profile/picture collection of you shooting indoors taken?

A ridiculous and unsubstantiated assumption.

If the police blow someone away through their own negligence, we the "policed" should know about about it.

I would say that it is split 50/50.  Money and truth.