Page A6
April 28, 1999
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Colorado Girlfriend President Gets 12
Years for Robberies
May Have Had Guns
to thank my parents and friends for
still continuing to support me. I’m
just really sorry for what I've done.
Thank you.”
Curtis wanted to say more but was
too emotional, said his attorney, Larry
Matasar. Curtis’ motivation for the
robberies remains a mystery.
“ I d o n ’t know the answ er,”
M atasar said. “ I wish I knew the
answ er.”
The plea ends a case that has
grabbed national attention for the
past year. Four Grant students and
two other friends _ most from afflu
ent families _ participated in a total
o f 20 violent robberies. The case
generated further outcry after Curtis,
running from the law, partied with 37
fellow seniors in Mazatlan. Mexico.
No one told police until they re
turned to Portland.
Police arrested an accom plice,
Ethan Throw er, at G rant High on
A pril 16, 1998. H ow ever, Curtis
©AP W ire S ervice
B y S teven K. P aulson
© T he A ssociated P ress
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) —
The 18-year-old girlfrien d o fC o l-
um bine H igh S chool gunm an
Dylan Klebold apparently bought
at least two o f the weapons used in
the attack at a D enver-area gun
show, authorities said.
Investigators also were check
ing a rep o rt from a C olorado
Springs gun dealer that the other
gunman, Eric H arris, was among
five teens who tried to buy a m a
chine gun and another weapon
last month.
The Denver Post reported to
day that investigators believe the
girlfriend, Robyn K. A nderson,
bought three weapons not long
after her 18th birthday in N ovem
ber. The Denver Rocky Mountain
News said she was believed to
have bought two guns.
Harris, 18, and Klebold, 17,
com m itted suicide after bursting
into Columbine High School with
guns and bombs a week ago today,
killing 12 fellow students and one
teacher. Four guns were found in
the school.
Ms. Anderson was questioned
Monday and authorities describe her
as a witness, not a suspect. District
Attorney Dave Thomas said she was
cooperating with investigators.
Prosecutors said the weapons may
have been purchased legally.
“We think three o f them were
p ro v id ed by the g irlfrie n d o f
Klebold,” Mark Paulter, a Jefferson
County chief district attorney, told
the Post. “She bought them because
she was older. She was 18 at the
time. She bought them in N ovem
ber or December.
“W e’re not sure she committed a
crime under Colorado statute. If you
provide a handgun to a person under
18, that’s a violation of the statute. If
you provide a shotgun or a rifle,
that’s not a violation.”
The operator o f the Tanner Gun
Show, which holds shows in the
Denver area several tim es a year,
said the U S. Bureau o f Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearm s asked on
M onday for a list o f all o f the
show ’s exhibitors.
Prosecutors think Ms. Ander
son bought two shotguns and a ri fie.
District Attorney Dave Thomas said
p ro secutors are not sure w hat
knowledge she had about how the
guns would be used. But Jefferson
County Sheriff John Stone acknowl
edged it was possible that she did
know how K lebold and H arris
planned to use the guns.
“She’s not going to use those for
pheasant hunting,' ’ Stone told the News.
A man who was at Ms. Anderson
home declined to comment, saying
the family was terrorized by report
ers, the Post said.
M eanw hile, M el B ern stein ,
owner o f Dragon Arms, a gun shop
in Colorado Springs, told investi
gators that four teen-age boys
dressed in trench coats — includ
ing Harris — and a young woman
came to his store in early March.
They tried to buy an M-60 m a
chine gun and a pistol equipped
w ith a silencer. He said he de
clined to sell the guns to Harris
because he was too young. When
the young woman in the group tried
to b u y the guns, saying she was 18,
he escorted them from the store.
Bernstein said the inc ident was cap
tured on a surveillance videotape that
he turned over to federal authorities.
“They w ere real m opey, like
punk kids w ith the m akeup on,
like punk rockers," Bernstein said.
“ To me, it was ju st another bunch
o f kids who w ished they could
ow n everything they see on the
wall here. This is like Toys R Us
to them .”
Bernstein said Harris “was doing
all the talking.”
Investigators still believe that
someone other than Klebold and
Harris was aware o f their plans in
the days and weeks leading up to
the attack.
“ T h ere’s a lot o f m unitions
there,” Stone said. “ Either some
body else brought it in or they
brought it in and stored it. ... It’s
hard to get that in under your rain
coat and not be noticed.”
Stone said three boys who were
arrested near Columbine on the day
o f the attack have not been cleared
in the case.
“I’m suspicious o f their story,”
Stone said. ’ ’They are not out o f the
woods in this one yet.”
Also M onday, authorities said
Klebold and Harris had aimed for
an even bigger bloodbath, plotting
to kill hundreds o f students, and
then to hijack a plane and crash it
into New York City. Investigators
cited a diary they found that was
kept by Harris.
The attack’s bold, bizarre na
ture led to speculation that the gun
men might have been taking drugs,
but toxicology tests revealed no
drugs or alcohol in their bodies, the
county coroner’s office said.
“ It makes it a little more frighten
ing to me that they were o f sound
mind and not under the influence of
alcohol and drugs,” Thomas told
MSNBC.
Colum bine’s campus remained
closed to everyone except bomb
squads and investigators. Colum
bine teachers reported for duty to
day at n earb y C h a tfie ld H igh
S chool, w here arm ed s h e r if f s
deputies and parents had been as
s ig n e d to g u a rd th e d o o rs.
Colum bine’s students will begin
classes at Chatfield on Thursday.
Teachers haven’t been allowed
to pick up their books and other
belongings since the bloodshed at
Columbine.
“I f they need anything and we can
find it, we’ll get it for them,” sheriff s
Sgt. Jim Parr said Monday. “But I
think they’re going to be operating
on a shoestring for a while.”
C h a tfie ld P rin c ip a l S a lly
Blanchard said her staff would try
to make Columbine teachers feel
welcome on campus as they pre
pare their lessons in hopes o f fin
ishing out the school year.
“We want them to feel honored.
We want them to feel safe,” she said.
Funerals were held Monday for
three students and Dave Sanders, the
only teacher killed in the rampage.
The emotionally exhausted commu
nity faced two more funerals today
and planned a moment of silence at
11:21 a.m., the time the attack began
a week ago.
Mourners, including students by
the hundreds, turned out Monday
to remember Lauren Townsend, an
18-year-old honor student and cap
tain o f the girls’ volleyball team;
Daniel Rohrbough, the 15-year-old
boy shot while holding an exit door
open for fleeing students; and
Cassie Bemall, the 17-year-oldgirl
who professed her love o f God just
before she was shot.
“Cassie died a martyr’s death,”
PastorGeorge Kirsten told mourners.
“She went to the martyrs ’ hall of fame. ”
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ The
former student body president o f
Grant High School, who fled rob
bery charges and spent three months
on the run in M exico and the South
west, will spend the next 12 years
in prison.
Thomas G. C urtis, 19, pleaded
guilty W ednesday in M ultnom ah
County Circuit C ourt to 19 counts
o f robbery and attem pted robbery
in exchange for the sentence. W ith
time o ff for good behavior, he
could serve 11 years and one
month. He also m ust pay more
than $8,000 in restitution.
Curtis apologized but offered no
explanation for what he did.
“I am truly sorry for what I’ve
done, and I never intended to hurt
a n y o n e,” he told Judge L inda
Bergman. "And I hope we can all
move on from this. And I would like
slip p e d aw ay, sh ow ing up in
M exico before m oving to a Phoe
nix suburb and w orking at a cafe.
W hen his case appeared on T V ’s
“ A m erica’s M ost W anted,” he fled
to Las Vegas, where he was ar
rested July 29.
Norm Frink, a chief deputy dis
trict attorney, said the sentences for
the six friends, ranging from 2'/: years
for one getaway driver to Curtis’ 12
years, reflected their roles.
“ In my mind, they’ve been appro
priately punished,” Frink said.
But Joe Kassab, an owner o f a
jewelry store that Curtis robbed with
Thrower, thinks Curtis should have
been sentenced to 20 years _ about
one year for each robbery he com
mitted. When Kassab thinks ofCurtis,
it ’ s w ith the memory o f a gun pointed
in his face and a masked robber yell
ing, “Back off! Back off!”
“I hope he rots in jail, actually,”
Kassab said. “I don’t feel for him.”
Clinton Urges Gun Law
Changes
weeks. Sen. Dick Durbin o f Illi
nois pronounced L ott’s decision
“a breakthrough” tow ard passage
o f legislation, and several advo
cates o f tougher gun laws said they
thought they could prevail.
First at the White House, and
then in the Capitol, the nation’s po
litical leaders paused during the day
to observe a moment o f silence for
the victims o f the shooting ram
page. It was a week ago that 12
students and a teacher died at the
hands o f two heavily armed stu
dents, who ended the carnage by
turning their weapons on themselves.
The brief silence since then was
an interlude to the political jo ck
eying that broke out Tuesday on
an issue that had faded into the
background in recent years. Re
publicans, heavily funded by the
N ational Rifle A ssociation, have
By David Espo
© The Associated Press
W ASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Clinton pressed for new con
trols on guns Tuesday, and top
Republicans proposed a hard look
at the nation’s violence-tinged cul
ture as the two parties offered dif
ferent responses to last w eek’s
Colorado high school shootings.
“ P e o p le ’s lives are at stake
h ere,” C linton d eclared at the
W hite House. He urged the GOP-
controlled C ongress to raise from
18 to 21 the legal age for handgun
possession and to hold negligent
parents liable when their children
use guns to com m it crim es.
By d ay ’s end, Senate M ajority
Leader Trent Lott, R-M iss., had
agreed to give D em ocrats an op
portunity for a debate and vote on
firearms proposals in about two
traditionally opposed gun control
legislation. D em ocrats have shied
away from forcing votes on the
question in recent years, in part to
spare mem bers o f their rank and
file from W estern and Southern
states from having to make po liti
cally unpalatable choices.
“ It is crim inal how easy it is for
children in A m erica to obtain
guns,” added first lady H illary
Rodham Clinton, w eighing a Sen
ate candidacy in New York.
“ We as parents have a respon
sibility to monitor what they watch,
what they listen to and w hat they
hold, not after the fact, but always.
Our com m unities m ust be active
in returning A m erica to a society
based on values, m orals and disci
pline. And most im portantly, we
must stress faith in God and instill
hope in our children.”
Students Initially Think
it’s Happening Again
Bv A malie Y oung
A ssociated P ress W riter
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP) _
M inutes after gunmen opened fire
in a C o lo ra d o h ig h sc h o o l,
Thurston High School principal
Larry Bentz broadcast the news
over his school’s intercom: “ I’d
rather they hear it from me than
from rum ors,” he said.
But still reeling from their own
school ram page 11 months ear
lier, several students m istakenly
thought the nightm are was hap
pening again at Thurston. They
bolted for the door.
"A w hole b u n ch o f p eople
started to get scared and stuff.
Some people started going toward
the door thinking it was happening
here,” said Thurston student W illie
Kumle. “A girl that sits next to me
started crying.”
The Littleton, C olo., shooting
has been a violent rem inder to this
sm all town o f last M ay’s tragedy,
when student Kip Kinkel alleg
edly w alked into the school’s caf
eteria and opened fire, killing two
students and wounding more than
20. He is also accused o f fatally
shooting his parents a day earlier.
“ Everybody here kind o f really
understands w hat th ey ’re going
through,” said Tony Case, who
was shot in the leg in the Spring-
field shooting.
“You know, I saw one student
interview ed in Colorado who said
she didn’t think it w ould happen
there," he told The O regonian
“ Everybody still thinks it c a n ’t
happen to ’our sch o o l,’ until it
happens.”
1
“ It’s creepy really,” said James
Ready, 17, a junior at Thurston. “I
honestly thought ours would be
the last one, that people would
have grown up by now .”
Once again, journalists have de
scended upon the high school, only
to be vilified by students, parents
and neighbors. Some threw rocks
at the media, hurled obscenities
and made obscene gestures.
“Go aw ay!” one student yelled
to reporters. “I t’s like you guys
are here just to make m oney off
w hat’s happening.!” He declined
to give his name.
Robert Ryker, whose two sons
helped subdue the Thurston gun
man, said he first learned o f the
Colorado shooting from a reporter
who called his home.
“ I went up to the high school
right away just to warn my kids
about the reporters who would be
all over the high school,” he told
The Register-Guard. “But when I
got there, they (the reporters) were
already there.”
Ryker said both his sons were
disturbed by the latest shooting.
“ It’s very tragic," he said. “We
were hoping that Thurston would
have been the last. But then, being
realistic, v'e knew it probably
w ouldn’t be the last.”
T he d e ja vu has hit h ard
throughout the community.
V icki Simpson, whose daugh
ter Kristy W hittington, 17, is a
senior at Thurston, said she imme
diately called the school to check
on her daughter, who was shaken
but fine.
"It was like the whole thing
started all over again,” she said.
“T hey’re trying to put it behind
them, but for some o f the kids, it’s
like re-living it all over again.”
After the initial news was broad
cast over the intercom,* students
were allow ed to go to a special
room to watch CNN for the rest o f
the day.
“The first thing I thought was,
‘Oh God. not again,” ’ said Devon
LaSalle, a 16-year-old sophomore.
After realizing the violence was
hundreds o f miles away, “ 1 kind o f
had this sense o f relief," she said.
“ I w asn’t really scared but I
was nervous for the lives o f all
th o se p e o p le ,” L a S a lle said.
“W hen we see the news media, it’s
kind o f like a flashback. We get
the same feeling we had last year.”
Knowing what will come in the
next few days, the Springfield com
munity is already reaching out to
the Colorado town.
Fire C hief Dennis Murphy, who
heads an organization called Rib
bon o f Promise that lobbies to keep
firearms away from young people,
said he will send a slew o f blue
ribbons to the c ity ’s fire chief.
Just two weeks ago, Murphy
said he tried to take his campaign
to Denver, only to be rebuffed.
“They basically told me to go
back to Oregon. Your message is
not welcome here," Murphy told
KGW -TV in Portland
He said he will reach out again,
despite the initial rejection.
“Make a resolve. Help us to
turn this into a national campaign,”
he said. “ Enough is enough is
enough.”
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