Columbine Athlete Commits Suicide

A Columbine High School basketball star who witnessed last year’s shooting rampage--losing one of his best friends--hanged himself in his garage as a CD, set to replay continuously, blared a song with the words: “I’m too depressed to go on.”

It was the second suicide among friends or relatives of the Columbine High victims, shocking the community two weeks after the first anniversary of the massacre.

Greg Barnes, a 17-year-old who averaged 26.2 points a game as a junior last season and had attracted attention from Harvard, Notre Dame and other universities, hanged himself Thursday morning, said neighbor Leonard Purer.

“Adam’s Song,” by the group Blink 182, was playing when his father found the body, teammate Dave Mitchell said. The lyrics include the lines “I never thought I’d die alone” and “I’m too depressed to go on. You’ll be sorry when I’m gone.”

Friends were mystified, saying there were no signs of turmoil in the teenager’s life.

“I talked to him the night before, and it didn’t seem like anything was wrong,” Mitchell said. “We talked about the usual stuff, girls.”

Grief counselors cautioned against automatically linking Barnes’ death to the Columbine shootings, noting that teenagers live in a pressure-cooker world. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 24.

The sheriff’s office and the Jefferson County coroner declined to provide additional details. “Some things should remain confidential to the family,” Coroner Nancy Bodelson said.

The news was devastating for students and staff at Columbine. Six counselors were at the school.

On April 20, 1999, two teenage boys killed 12 fellow Columbine students and a teacher and wounded 23 people before committing suicide in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.

Barnes said later that he saw teacher Dave Sanders get shot.

Since the massacre, the Columbine community has almost constantly had to live with grief.

The mother of Anne Marie Hochhalter, a student who was paralyzed in the shooting, walked into a pawnshop in October, asked to see a gun, loaded it and shot herself to death. On Valentine’s Day, two Columbine sweethearts were shot to death in a sandwich shop.

The 6-foot-3 Barnes scored 31 points in Columbine’s loss during the state quarterfinal playoff game in March.