CNN logo
Navigation
 
COMMUNITY 
Message Boards 
Chat 
Feedback 

SITE SOURCES 
Contents 
Help! 
Search 
CNN Networks 

SPECIALS 
Quick News 
Almanac 
Video Vault 
News Quiz 


Pathfinder/Warner Bros


Barnes and Noble
Main banner
rule

First victim buried in Oregon school shooting

Mayor
Spingfield Mayor Bill Morrisette said the funeral was a start to healing for the community  
May 25, 1998
Web posted at: 8:59 p.m. EDT (0059 GMT)

SPRINGFIELD, Oregon (CNN) -- Ben Walker was remembered by family and friends Monday in the first funeral for the victims of the Thurston High School shootings.

Pastor Ray Trowbridge of the Calvary Temple described Walker "as in a hurry to get going with life from the very beginning" and a boy with a "mischievous sparkle" in his eye.

"Ben's life has left us with rich memories," he said.

Springfield Mayor Bill Morrisette told about 500 mourners at Springfield Faith Center the shooting was a "tremendously tragic event" but that the funeral was a start to healing the community.

"This is a testimonial to Ben and his family, but it's also a testimonial to the city of Springfield," he said.

Morrisette said Walker's family donated the 16-year-old's organs and that 12 people were recipients. "Ben will live through other people," he said. "In that sense, his life was not in vain."

The mayor said the school shootings were part of an "epidemic" spreading across the country.

bag pipes
Bagpiper plays Amazing Grace at Thurston High School Monday  

"If you joke about guns in an airport, you're history. Why do we treat young people differently?" Morrisette said. "We owe it to Ben and we owe it to Ben's family to make sure something is done. This can be a living memorial to Ben Walker."

"My Heart Will Go On," the theme song from the movie "Titanic," was played at the service, along with "Nothing Else Matters" by the group Metallica, a reference to Walker's guitar playing.

Also on Monday, students were allowed to return to the shooting scene. Thurston High School was open for three hours so the 1,400 students could visit the school and talk to counselors before classes resume Tuesday.

The blood was gone and the bullet holes filled in, but students had difficulty dealing with their grief and memories. A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" as students, parents and teachers filed in.

Inside, they went back to the seats where they had been at the time of the shooting and scribbled their feelings on a long sheet of butcher paper. Principal Larry Bentz said that when he first went in, "I sat in a corner and probably cried for 45 minutes."

"It felt like sheer terror, like you were going through it again, like the shooting had started again," said 15-year-old Stacy Compton, who was in the cafeteria when the shots rang out. "It was the same way I felt when it first started."

Students will be let out of class early Tuesday to attend the funeral for the second student killed, Mikael Nickolauson.

The suspect in the killings, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, remains at a juvenile detention center on suicide watch. He is accused of shooting and killing his parents, then driving to the school and opening fire on classmates in a crowded cafeteria with a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle.

Kinkel is monitored on closed-circuit television and is dressed in paper clothing to prevent him from harming himself.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 
rule

Special section:

Message board:

Related stories:

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

Infoseek search  

  further reading
rule
Message Boards Sound off on our
message boards & chat
rule
Back to the top

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.