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Cafeteria where Oregon students shot reopens Monday
A sign at Thurston High School asks a question that remains unanswered Classmates will be able to visit, meet with counselors
SPRINGFIELD, Oregon (CNN) -- The cafeteria at Thurston High School, which last Thursday was the scene of sudden bloodshed and horror, will reopen for students to visit Monday afternoon, part of an effort by school officials to help them come to terms with the tragedy.
"It's part of allowing kids to come back to a scene that previously ... was a very friendly scene, that's basically their home, their place that they spent a lot of time at," said School Superintendent Jamon Kent.
"The cafeteria is completely restored at this time. We've gone in and taken out all evidence of any kind of bullets or any struggle or anything that would be on the floor from the remains of kids being injured," he said.
The school was scheduled to be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. But school officials decided to open Thurston between noon and 3 p.m. so that students and their parents can return to the scene and meet with counselors, in advance of Tuesday's scheduled return to classes.
Kinkel On Thursday, Kip Kinkel, 15, a freshman at Thurston, allegedly took a rifle and two handguns to the school, firing 51 rounds of ammunition at his classmates, killing two and injuring 22.
Police later found the bodies of Kinkel's parents, William and Faith Kinkel, who had been shot to death at their rural home. Police also found five sophisticated explosive devices in the house.
The funeral for student Ben Walker is scheduled for Monday. The other student victim, Mikael Nicholauson, will be buried Tuesday.
Tears, questions in Springfield churches
Throughout Springfield Sunday, grief-stricken residents gathered in houses of worship, seeking comfort, peace and answers to unanswerable questions in the wake of the shooting.
"How do you think about the unthinkable?" asked the Rev. Ed McIndoo, whose St. Paul Center United Methodist Church is across the street from the high school. "How do you come to terms with what happened?"
"We need to find hope. We need to look to peace and once again find joy so that we can begin to be healed," said the Rev. Doug Vaughn, pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church.
"The guardian angles probably had to step back and let this happen," said the Rev. Mark Clarke of Camp Creek Church. "And I bet they cried when they did. God is not responsible for this. We can't blame Him."
Prayers were offered for the six students who remain hospitalized. Two are in critical condition, two in serious condition and two in fair condition.
Clarke, who has spent hours at the bedside of Teresa Miltonberger, 16, one of the critically injured students, admitted that he, like many in Springfield, has also had to deal with anger.
"Right when it happened, I wanted to kill that kid, to rip him apart with my bare hands," Clarke said.
Kinkel under suicide watch
Kinkel, charged with four counts of aggravated murder, is being held at the Skipworth Juvenile Detention Center under a 24-hour suicide watch monitored by a closed-circuit camera, Steve Carmichael, director of the Lane County Department of Youth Services, told CNN.
Two residents of Eugene, Oregon, walk along the flower-covered fence outside the school that has become a memorial to those killed He is allowed no access to sharp objects and wears only paper clothing. He is isolated from the rest of the inmates and is allowed to leave his cell only to use the bathroom and for 15 minutes of daily exercise.
Authorities at Skipworth described Kinkel as "pretty detached" and said he was not sleeping well.
Kinkel's only sibling, Kristin, 22, a student at Hawaii Pacific University, returned to the Springfield area and went into seclusion with relatives and family friends. Police are continuing to preserve the family home as a crime scene.
Sheriff: Signs something amiss with Kinkel
On Sunday, Lane County Sheriff Jan Clements said that based on interviews with neighbors who knew the Kinkel family, there were signs that pointed to something wrong with Kip Kinkel long before the shooting.
"Apparently, some of the behavior that he exhibited, some of the ways in which he just handled life," were tips that something was wrong, Clements said on CBS's "Face The Nation."
A postal worker passes under a movie theater marquee reflecting efforts by the town to cope with the shooting deaths But Springfield Police Chief Bill DeForrest, also speaking on "Face The Nation," said his investigation has not shown that teachers or other students knew that Kinkel was planning to open fire in the cafeteria.
"What I can say at this particular point in time, we do not have any knowledge that any school official or any other official, law enforcement or otherwise, was aware of these problems," DeForrest said.
Friend: Family knew about bombs
Kim Scott, a close friend of Kristin Kinkel who grew up across the street from the family, said that the family knew about Kip Kinkel's bomb-making fetish for about a year before Thursday's tragedy.
She said his parents discovered that he had been downloading information about how to make bombs from the Internet and using it to actually construct bombs.
"They tried to discipline him, and they tried to keep him from making more bombs," she said. "But at some point, Kristin said, they just pretty much had given up on being able to control him."
Ron Ruhoff, a friend of the suspect's father, said William Kinkel had purchased several guns for his son in an attempt to redirect his obsession with guns into a supervised hobby.
"Bill felt that the boy was obsessed enough with guns that he would have a gun, one way or another," Ruhoff said. "The way Bill could control the situation is if he owned the gun and had control over it."
Police clamp down on information
With their preliminary investigation complete, Clements announced Sunday that investigators would be releasing no further details about the shooting, at the request of prosecutors.
"We need to respect the needs of prosecution, the rights of the accused and the need to move prudently through the judicial process," Clements said.
"In a sense, are we going to try this in the media?" he asked. "Advice from the district attorney's staff has caused us, and we concur, to feel that we cannot respond with any additional detail."
DeForrest said that police do not plan to pursue charges against Kinkel for an incident in the police station after he was taken into custody, during which he allegedly took out a knife he had taped to his leg and lunged at an officer before being subdued with pepper spray.
DeForrest admitted that the officers responsible for taking Kinkel into custody, whom he described as "seasoned," did not conduct a proper search of the suspect. He said the incident would be handled as a police department internal matter, although he indicated that the officers involved would not be fired.
"I'm pleased with the fact that the officers were able to respond appropriately and neutralize the threat without harm to anyone," he said.
Correspondents Martin Savidge and Rusty Dornin and Reuters Limited contributed to this report.
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Related stories:
- Kinkel lunged at officer with a knife after arrest - May 23, 1998
- Accused Oregon school shooter shows no emotion in court - May 22, 1998
- Bombs found in Oregon shooting suspect's home - May 22, 1998
- Oregon teen due in court after shooting spree - May 22, 1998
Related sites:
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- Springfield, Oregon Public School District
- Springfield Chamber of Commerce
- The Spencer Butte Gazette
- Welcome to Springfield, Oregon
- McKenzie Willamette Hospital
- National Center for Education Statistics
- National Alliance for Safe Schools
- Gun-free Schools Act of 1994
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