Associated Press

A federal judge on Friday refused to dismiss any of the defendants in wrongful-death lawsuits filed by the families of the victims of the Columbine High School massacre.

U.S. District Court Judge Lewis T. Babcock rejected requests for dismissal by the Jefferson County sheriff's office, the Jefferson County School District, the county commissioners and the gunmen's parents without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled.

The judge also refused to dismiss lawsuits against Phillip Duran and Robyn Anderson, who helped gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold obtain the weapons used in the April 20, 1999, shootings, and Mark Manes, who provided one of the guns.

Manes is serving a six-year prison term and Duran is serving a 41/2-year term. Anderson was not charged with a crime because buying long guns, such as rifles, and giving them to minors isn't a crime.

Babcock also refused to dismiss as defendants the gun show where Harris and Klebold bought weapons with Anderson's assistance, the vendors who sold them and the owner of a pizza shop where the gunmen worked.

Klebold and Harris killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 others in the worst school shooting in U.S. history, then killed themselves.

Families have claimed several people knew or should have known about the gunmen's plans but failed to prevent the shootings. They also accuse the sheriff's office of botching the rescue operation.