Posted on 09/29/2006 10:31:15 AM PDT by 300magnum
BAILEY, Colo. - The gunman who took six girls hostage in a high school classroom and killed one of them before taking his own life left a suicide note, Sheriff Fred Wegener said Friday.
Wegener did not release the text of the note. He said investigators were analyzing the note's contents and more details could be made public later in the day.
He said the note had been delivered to a male relative of the gunman in Colorado. He would not identify the relative or say where in the state he lives, but said the man does not live in Bailey, where the hostage-taking took place.
Wegener would not say how the note was delivered. He said it was found yesterday.
He said the note was discovered by investigators after agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms traced ownership of the handgun used in the killing to the relative.
When agents contacted the relative he told them he had received what appeared to be a suicide note.
Lance Clem, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, told The Associated Press the note "was a lengthy piece. It can probably be more described as a letter." Clem said it had be sent to one of Morrison's two brothers but he did not know which one.
KCNC-TV in Denver reported the note was a rambling, 10-page, handwritten letter saying Morrison planned to commit suicide because of personal pain but giving no indication he planned to attack the school. The station said its information came from someone who had seen the letter.
Authorities say Duane Morrison shot and killed 16-year-old Emily Keyes on Wednesday before killing himself as SWAT team members stormed at Platte Canyon High School classroom.
Morrison molested all of the six girls and sexually assaulted at least two of them, Wegener said Friday. He declined to elaborate.
One of the hostages, Lynna Long, told the Rocky Mountain News that she was groped above the waist but believes Emily "got it worse." She said she was afraid to look, "But you could hear Emily saying, 'No. Please don't.'"
The newspaper said Lynna and her mother had agreed to allow Lynna to be identified by name.
Lynna said all the girls had been told to stand facing a wall and she could not see what Morrison was doing, but she knew the other girls were being molested because "You could hear the rustling of clothes and elastic being snapped and zippers being opened and closed."
Authorities say they knew of no connection between Morrison and the hostages he held for four hours after bursting into a college prep English class at the high school.
On Thursday, Wegener said the suspect approached a male high school student Wednesday and "asked about the identity of a list of female students." The sheriff said he wasn't sure if it was a written list or names rattled off by Morrison.
It was not disclosed whether the list included Emily Keyes.
KCNC-TV reported that video from cameras outside the school showed Morrison sitting in his Jeep in the school parking lot for about 20 minutes and then mingling with students as classes changed, nearly 35 minutes before the siege began.
Wegener said the Colorado Bureau of Investigation spent much of Thursday examining an apparent roadside campsite about a mile north of the school, where a resident found trash and an assault rifle.
The sheriff said it was too early to know if the rifle was connected to Morrison.
Investigators said the 53-year-old Morrison was a petty criminal who had a Denver address but apparently had been living in his battered yellow Jeep.
Morrison walked inside the school with two handguns and a backpack that he claimed contained a bomb. Investigators did not say what was in the backpack.
During the siege, Morrison released four hostages. While still holding two girls, he cut off contact with deputies and warned that "something would happen at 4 o'clock," authorities said.
About a half-hour before the deadline, a SWAT team used explosives to blow a hole in a classroom wall in hopes of getting a clear shot at him. When they couldn't see him through the gap, they blew the door off the hinges to get inside, said Lance Clem, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
Morrison fired at the SWAT officers, shot Keyes as she tried to run away and then killed himself, authorities said. During the gun battle, police shot Morrison several times, they said.
The sheriff said he spoke to Emily's family and explained his decision to try to take Morrison by force.
"They were surprisingly supportive of everything I did," Wegener told CBS. "They are extraordinary people indicating that are going through a rough time. I hold the responsibility for Emily in my heart. I'll live with that for the rest of my life."
Classes were canceled for the rest of the week as the community tried to come to grips with the bloodshed, which evoked memories of the 1999 shooting rampage that left 15 dead at Columbine High School, less than an hour's drive away.
Louis Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Keyes family, said the girl's father was among the parents anxiously awaiting word from their children during the standoff. John Keyes had just bought Emily and her twin brother cell phones for their 16th birthday.
"How are U?" a volunteer text-messaged Keyes on her father's behalf.
At 1:52 p.m., she messaged back, "I love U guys."
"In memory of Emily we would like everyone to go out and do random acts of kindness, random acts of love to your friends or your neighbors or your fellow students because there is no way to make sense of this," Gonzalez said. "It's what Emily would have wanted."
Student Chelsea Wilson said she was in the classroom when the gunman came in and told the students to line up facing the chalkboard.
"All the hairs on my body stood up," she said. "I guess I was somewhat praying it was a drill."
One by one, the gunman started letting students go. Chelsea, a tall brunette, said she was the first to leave. Her mother, Julia Wilson, said she thinks the gunman selected the blond, smaller girls. Keyes' yearbook photo shows a smiling blond girl with blue eyes.
Chelsea said she heard what might have been a gunshot after she left the classroom.
"He's a pervert," she said. "I'm not sure of motivation. I just knew it wasn't good."
Residents of this mountain town of about 3,500 gathered Thursday at the Platte Canyon Christian Church for support. Others stopped by the Cutthroat Cafe, where Keyes had worked for about two years.
"It's very sad here. You know, the family lost their daughter but as a community, we lost a child," said Bobbi Sterling, a waitress and cook. "We're just sitting here, numb and in shock. We're all just kind of stunned."
___
Associated Press writers Catherine Tsai, Don Mitchell, Dan Elliott, Sandy Shore and Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.
"petty criminal"
Wonder what that entails.
Sickening.
If these guys know they are going to commit suicide, why do they feel compelled to commit murder first?
Thanks for the update!
I'll bet somewhere in his past he's done sex crimes.
Incidentally, regarding law enforcement's decision to go in... Aren't there thermal imaging devices that "see through walls" and couldn't they seek the assistance of the FBI in borrowing one? No criticism of the decision intended. I think it was the correct decision. I'm just asking a procedural question... Are there legal obstacles to bringing in outside expertise and assistance in cases like this?
"If these guys know they are going to commit suicide, why do they feel compelled to commit murder first?"
Thought this was an ROP thread for a second...
Seriously though, I pray for what our youth today have to deal with.
Hindsight is wonderful isn't it?
They could not afford to wait on the FBI to get such a device on the scene if one was available. As learned from Columbine, speed can save lives. Who's to say if they waited a few more minutes, all the hostages could have been killed. Just my 2 cents worth.
Give them time. When the guns are gone, they will focus on the knives.
Hmmm, letter went to one of two brothers. He has three that I've found in Denver.
Two of them live in Centennial in a nice house and another lives in Westminster, also in a nice house. Two of the three appear to still be married (wife listed with them), may have children and/or grandchildren. All are long-time area residents, one for over 20 years.
Homes are $350,000+ range, 4 bedrooms, high-income areas. It wasn't what I expected at all for the homeless guy. I'm still looking through lots of docs, trying to figure out how he would know Emily's father, if he had been telling the truth, which he may not have been, as knowing John Michael Keyes.
It seems you are willing to second guess no matter what decision they made.
After Columbine, SWAT doctrine changed that if someone was actively gunning down people (AKA Montreal) you have to try an immediate intervention with officers and weapons at hand, to engage the shooter and take his sights of potential victims. (As you remember, Columbine dicked around assembling SWAT teams, calling for backup...basically paralyzed while the perps tried to rig that bomb in the cafeteria, and kept shooting kids)
Now, if the suspect isnt shooting and actively communicating with your on the cellphone, as this one apparently was, you can then use hostage negotiators to try to gain the release people. From the little I have read, the suspect stopped communicating and had said something cryptic about something happening at a given time. At that point, you have to force an intervention with the resources at hand. It being a very rural county, I suppose that resources such as little cameras you see slipped under the door, laser microphones against windows, etc werent available, or part of the training.
I guess you should be focused on how many were saved...and the fact that the girl wasnt shot by law enforcement, as happens from time to time.
Was that murder in Cd'A?
I lived in North Idaho for many, many years, and I would never imagine that a horrible thing like that would have happened.
Ed
This guy wanted to go out in a "Blaze of Glory" and decided to take with him a 16 year-old girl who never caused anyone any harm. A girl with her whole life ahead of her.
Why don't these suicidal/homicidal nutjobs go into the 'hood and take out a few gangbangers, drug dealers or pimps if they're planning on killing themselves? They're not too hard to spot. Plenty of them in downtown Denver. At least they'll rid the world of people who won't be missed!
"He paid special attention to Emily. I don't know why. He asked her for her name, and her father's name. He seemed to know her dad."
From an article in today's Rocky Moutain News. This would seem to relate to remarks made to me by professionals who were on the scene as it all came down. I think more will come out at some point.
The gunman said that something big was going to happen a 4PM. SWAT went in just before that time. As I recall, the gunman had a backpack that he claimed contained a bomb.
I don't know what other resources they had, keep in mind that this is a mountain town.
The sheriff who gave the order to go in also had a son who was in the school when this all began.
The other thing you need to know is the biggest learning from the columbine tragedy was that law enforcement should never again sit outside of the school while kids are dying inside.
(This is not a slam on the LE at Columbine, just what was learned from that day. The first responders that day make their best call,) I think any school situation in Colorado will be met with "tactical solutions" sooner rather than later. I for one think this is appropriate.
It sickens me that this creep got the chance to put a bullet in the back of the head of that lovely young lady as she tried to flee.
I am one who believes that Hell has different levels of punishment and I hope he gets the worse of it.
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