Interfaith service marks fifth anniversary of Columbine shootings

Published: 2004-04-21

LITTLETON, Colo. (CNS) -- More than 1,000 people gathered at the Clement Park amphitheater in Littleton April 20 for an interfaith prayer service and candlelight vigil marking the fifth anniversary of the Columbine High School rampage that left 14 students and one teacher dead. Speakers at the service included the mother of a victim, one of the 23 students wounded in the attack, the principal and current student body president at Columbine High, and Jim Beckman, director of youth ministry at St. Frances Cabrini Church in Littleton. The service also featured an interfaith choir and the release of 13 blue-and-white balloons and 13 doves representing the 12 students and one teacher who were murdered by two gunmen, fellow students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. After their rampage Klebold and Harris killed themselves. "I urge all of us who have survived that day to become living memorials following these beacons of hope whose lights cannot be extinguished," Dawn Anna said of the gunmen's 13 victims, who included her daughter, Lauren Townsend.

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