Students Find Hate Symbols at Columbine
Officials were investigating on Tuesday who etched four swastikas at Columbine High School the day students returned to classes for the first time since a shooting massacre four months ago.
Two swastikas were drawn in a girls’ restroom outside the counseling office, one was found in a boys’ restroom and another was etched on a retaining wall at the school’s entrance. They have since been erased.
“It’s like they are laughing in our faces: ‘Ha, ha, school’s back in session and so are we,’ ” said Tammy Theus, mother of one of just 15 black students at Columbine.
“I am disappointed that my message of tolerance and respect that was part of Monday’s ‘take back our school’ rally was lost on whoever may have etched the swastikas outside and inside the building,” Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis said.
On Monday, DeAngelis told students at a rally before classes started that the school would have “zero tolerance for cruelty, harassment, excessive hazing, discrimination, violence and intimidation.”
On April 20 two teenage gunmen killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at the school before turning the guns on themselves.
The gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were believed to have attacked on Hitler’s birthday as a tribute to the former Nazi leader.
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