The death count in Columbine High School mass shooting of 1999, a figure long associated with American gun violence, has risen to 14. The latest addition is Anne Marie Hochhalter, a former student who was paralysed in the 1999 attack. Her death on February 16 was officially declared a homicide by a Colorado coroner.
The report, accessed by The New York Times on Thursday, indicated that Hochhalter succumbed to sepsis, a severe infection-triggered immune response.
Dr Dawn B Holmes, a forensic pathologist at the Jefferson County coroner’s office, documented the connection between Hochhalter’s death and her shooting injuries in a detailed 13-page autopsy report. “Complications of paraplegia due to two (2) gunshot wounds are a significant contributing factor,” Holmes stated.
The attack on April 20, 1999, at the Littleton, Colorado school resulted in the deaths of twelve students and one teacher when two armed students initiated the shooting before ending their own lives. The incident, which also left 21 people wounded, was the most severe school shooting in US history at that time.
Hochhalter sustained two shots, to her chest and back, while having lunch with friends. Despite requiring a wheelchair and facing continuous medical difficulties, she maintained her autonomy and actively discussed gun violence.
Her brother Nathan, present at Columbine as a freshman during the shooting but unharmed, expressed on Thursday that categorising his sister with those who died immediately was inappropriate.
“She got an extra 26 years,” Nathan Hochhalter said. “She was very independent, but it was not an easy 26 years.”
Nathan, aged 40, emphasised that his sister identified as a survivor rather than a victim. She drove independently, shopped, attended educational institutions and lived alone for several years.
Police located Ann Marie Hochhalter deceased at her Westminster, Colorado residence during a welfare check on February 16.
Sue Townsend, who developed a close relationship with Hochhalter after losing her stepdaughter Lauren in the shooting, told New York Times that Hochhalter had been dealing with ongoing complications including a pressure sore and infection.
The incident’s impact also affected the Hochhalter’s family over time. Their mother, Carla June Hochhalter, aged 48, died by suicide in a pawnshop six months after the shooting. Ann Marie later revealed her mother had experienced depression and mental health issues before Columbine.
When Sue Klebold, mother of one shooter, published “A Mother’s Reckoning” in 2016, Ann Marie Hochhalter posted a Facebook message expressing forgiveness.
“Just as I wouldn’t want to be judged by the sins of my family members, I hold you in that same regard,” Hochhalter wrote. “It’s been a rough road for me, with many medical issues because of my spinal cord injury and intense nerve pain, but I choose not to be bitter towards you. A good friend once told me, ‘Bitterness is like swallowing a poison pill and expecting the other person to die.’ It only harms yourself. I have forgiven you and only wish you the best.”
