Columbine family meets with sheriff {build case that officer killed their son}

LITTLETON -- Daniel Rohrbough's family used ballistics and forensics evidence Friday to press their case that a law officer's bullet took the boy's life outside Columbine High School.

Their presentation came after a closed-door meeting with Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan that was called to discuss the dispute over a deputy's claim that he'd seen the 15-year-old gunned down as he ran for safety.

"Two and a half years later, we still have physical evidence that cannot be denied," the boy's father, Brian Rohrbough, said outside the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office headquarters.

He and other family members pointed to several factors that support their allegation that Denver police Sgt. Dan O'Shea fired the fatal shot:

A lack of shell casings from Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the area where Daniel died, and the presence of shell casings from O'Shea's gun.

Autopsy results that show the bullet that killed Daniel entered the left side of his chest on an "upward" trajectory.

Autopsy results that indicate Daniel was running away from Harris and Klebold when he was killed.

A sworn statement from a woman who said O'Shea had told her two days after Columbine that he feared he had shot a student.

The statements of Arapahoe County sheriff's Deputy Jim Taylor, who told the family in a tape-recorded conversation that he'd seen Daniel killed.

O'Shea has denied that he killed the boy. He has not returned repeated messages left by the Rocky Mountain News.

Daniel was shot and killed on a sidewalk outside the Columbine cafeteria. He suffered three gunshot wounds, but two of the bullets passed through his body and were never positively identified.

However, a pathologist who conducted his autopsy concluded the wounds were caused by two 9 mm bullets -- the same caliber as was fired at the school by Harris, Klebold and several law officers who responded to the school.

According to the official version of events, which is contained in the Columbine report issued in May 2000, Harris and Klebold opened fire from the top of a concrete staircase outside Columbine. The report said investigators determined that a shot wounded Rohrbough, who fell to the ground, and that Klebold then walked down the stairs and fired two shots that killed him.

In the area around Daniel's body, investigators found three shell casings from O'Shea's 9 mm submachine gun.

That's significant, according to the family's attorney, Barry Arrington, because it calls into question the assertion that Klebold walked up to Rohrbough and shot him to death. If he did that, the Tec-9 should have ejected the spent shells, and they should have been found in the area.

"If that occurred, his shell casings would be somewhere around here," Arrington said, pointing to a map of the area.

Jacki Tallman, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, said it is possible those shell casings were inadvertently moved in the chaos of April 20, which ended with the killers, a teacher and a dozen other students dead and more than 20 others wounded.

"There was heavy foot traffic through that area," Tallman said. "There were many, many kids that had to walk past Danny's body when they left the school."

She said she did not want to discuss the evidence in detail because it is likely to be reviewed by El Paso County Sheriff John Anderson, who was asked to conduct an independent investigation of the allegations made by Rohrbough's family. Those allegations came Dec. 26 as the families of Rohrbough and four other Columbine victims filed a motion in an effort to revive their lawsuits against Jefferson County authorities.

A News photograph taken shortly after he was killed showed Daniel on the ground, facedown. The position of his body leads his family to believe he was running from Harris and Klebold at the top of the stairs when he was shot.

A pathologist also determined that he sustained abrasions indicating that after being shot he collapsed to the ground without attempting to break his fall.

The family also noted the sworn statement of a woman who said that O'Shea told her on April 22, 1999, that he feared he had shot a student at the school.

Finally, they said they continued to believe that Deputy Taylor was telling them the truth when he said on several occasions in 1999 that he saw Daniel shot and killed as he ran away from the school.

Last week, Taylor denied ever making those statements. However, after the Rohrbough family produced a tape recording to back up their allegations, Sullivan fired the deputy.

Taylor has refused to comment. Sullivan left his office after the meeting with the family and did not return a message left with his secretary.

Brian Rohrbough was asked to describe the meeting with Sullivan, which occurred in a third-floor conference room and lasted a little less than an hour.

"I just want the truth about how my son died," said the boy's mother, Sue Petrone.

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Why is it that may conservatives, who SHOULD be very supportive of law enforcement, have little or no confidence? Imagine a world where this wuss was actually a man and admit what he did. THEN cops could get some respect.

There are indeed some pretty good cops out there, both individually and in some departments and agencys generally, particularly in some smaller rural areas where they've been subjected less to politicalization and liberal indoctrination. Those who have earned the respect of the citizens they protect deserve every bit they get- and some do.

And others, bullying and antagonistic, demand that they too be given respect, though they have in fact earned nothing but contempt. Their real position is that of the Jews in the death camps who cooperated as Kamp Polizei [*camp police*] or KaPos, betraying and clubbing their fellow Jews for a little extra bread from their nazi masters. That seems to also cover Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone's role in covering up the killings of at least one and possibly more of the Columbine victims by members of his own department, which could be damaging to his future political plans.

And in any event, we cannot expect all cops to perform as heroes, on every shift, at all times, onnduty and off. But we should at least expect them to be better than liars and cowards, who bklame their own mistakes on dead children.

There are indeed some pretty good cops out there...

To be honest, I think that many police officers are good. But there are a few who are very bad. Then there's the type that engage in no-knock raids. It's my observation that those guys almost have to be corrupt to do the things they are asked to do. And there are far too many innocent shootings and "accidents" for me to believe otherwise.

Of course he has every right to say nothing and deny everything. But we have the right to call him a coward for doing so, and demand sterner punishment for someone who adds to the tragedy he already caused the family of the boy by his denying fairly obvious guilt.

I could be wrong, but I have read of more evidence that says the cop is guilty than I have that Osama bin Laden organized the September 11 hijackings, and I have no reasonable doubt about Osama.

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